H P & the Magic of the Elders of the Universe Pt 2
by jjslll54
Summary: The Potter's have an interesting summer and second year at Hogwarts. This is a continuation from part one.
1. A Trip Home and Planning a Vacation

**AN: **This is a continuation of my saga. This story covers summer vacation and the second year at story has been re-edited and is written in the present tense. I hope you get the feel that you are there in the action with the characters. That is my intention as I think it is more exciting to read it as it happens vs reading about something that happened in the past.

As usual: I don't own the rights to the Harry Potter or the DC Comics worlds and am making no money from this. Please enjoy for your own entertainment.

**Chapter 16: The trip Home, Planning a Vacation**

After the feast Harry and Hermione return to their room to pack for the trip home for the summer holiday. They are excited to be going home to be with their parents. The Grangers had written to them about some trips planned for this summer to France and possibly Switzerland if they have time to fit both in. After a good night's sleep, they are leaving their rooms to go to breakfast the next morning when professor Sprout comes up to them and gives each one a hug.

"It's been a pleasure having you in my house this year Harry and Hermione. You two helped to motivate the rest of the house into doing their school work diligently." She says with a big smile," of course the change in Professor Snape helped as well."

"Removing his dark mark made him into the man he was meant to be," Hermione says, smiling back at her," He is now one of the best teachers we have."

Harry takes Hermione's hand and says to the professor," We would like to have one more meeting of the council after the train leaves. We have a means of catching up to the train when the meeting is over."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore mentioned that you had talked to him about the Wizengamot session this summer. He thought you would like have a meeting so he set one for eleven thirty." She replies while nodding in agreement.

"That's good. We will see you there professor." Harry says," We are going to go eat now and talk to our friends."

Professor Sprout waves them off and they walk hand in hand to the Great Hall to sit with their friends for breakfast.

"Hi guys," Harry says as they sit down," Ready for the trip home?"

Susan answers," Yea, it's been a long year and I can't wait to tell aunty all about it."

Harry looks over at the Gryffindor table and waves at Neville, who is talking to one of the twins, over to sit with them. Neville greets everyone when he arrives, then sits and fills his plate with a variety of breakfast foods before digging in.

Harry says, while looking at Neville, Susan, Hannah and Hermione, " Now that the gangs all here, I wanted to let you know Hermione and I have a meeting with the heads of all the houses along with the Headmaster this morning after the train leaves. We will join you as soon as the meeting is over, so keep a place open for us."

"How will you get on the train if you miss it," Susan asks?

"We will concentrate on you three to home in on your compartment." Hermione answers.

"What do you mean by home in? Can you two apparate already?" Neville asks astonished," I didn't know you could do that onto a moving object."

"We don't really apparate like other wizards," Hermione says," we sort of phase in and out. It's a lot more pleasant than apparition."

"What does phase mean." Hannah asks.

"Well," Hermione thinks about how to describe it," Has any of you ever watched Star Trek on the telly."

Hannah says," Yea, it's one of my favorite shows."

"Even though we call what we do phasing, it's more like the transporters on that show. We phase out here and phase in at our destination and there is no noise." Hermione says," We can home in on your magical signatures to find you."

"What do you mean by magical signatures Hermione," Hannah asks as she pauses from taking a bite of her eggs.,

"Everyone has a unique magical signature, like a fingerprint. Harry and I are able to sense the different signatures that witches and wizards have."

"Can you teach us," Susan asks?

"Sensing magical signatures just takes practice. You have to be able to sense your own first. To do that, just close your eyes and reach down inside yourself to feel your magic. When you get that done, keep practicing until you can feel your magic as a constant companion. You will find it a lot easier to cast spells and control your power." Hermione says explaining," I'm afraid phasing is a unique ability that only Harry and I have. I'm sorry but we can't teach that to you as normal witches and wizards aren't able to do what we do. You will have to learn apparition when the time comes."

The others are disappointed but accept the reality of it. After breakfast Harry and Hermione ride with their friends to the station to see them off. After the train leaves, the couple returns to the castle where they proceed up to the Headmaster's office for the meeting.

"I called this meeting because Harry and Hermione had an idea that I thought would be a good opportunity for them to learn about our government and allow us to be involved as a group in the decision making process," Albus says to get the meeting started.

Professor Snape speaks up and adds," Yes, they talked to me about it a little earlier in the week and I think it is a good idea as well. It will go a long way to bring prestige to the school and allow each of us to have a vote on the Wizengamot."

Albus looks at the Potters and says," Would one of you like to explain your idea so we can discuss it?"

Harry looks at Hermione and nods so she gets up to address the council first.

"Since Harry and I have five votes on the Wizengamot we would like to assign proxies to fill the founder's seats as is our right by law. We would like the seat for each founder to be represented by the head of house for that founder. We think that each of you is experts on your **own** house and would vote according to the way the founder for your house would. Professor Snape would vote for Salazar Slytherin because he is ambitious, cunning and knowledgeable enough to make decisions for Slytherin. Professor Flitwick would vote for Ravenclaw. He has the intelligence of Rowena and understands the real world with the unique advantage his race mixture gives him," Hermione looks directly at professor Flitwick and continues," Don't worry about what others might think about you professor. Harry and I will be there and we will expose every death eater in the Wizengomot if they say anything."

"Those are my two proxies," she concludes, gesturing to Harry.

Harry gets up and says," Since I am the heir to the other two houses, I also chose the house heads as the best persons to be my proxies. Professor McGonagall understands the bravery Godric Gryffindor needed to be a leader of people while Professor Sprout understands Hufflepuff's loyalty to the hard work of the working class people and will vote accordingly. These four people working together will change our government to what the founders would have wanted it to be. Professor Dumbledore will vote the Potter proxy and as we support the founders he will too. We will be in the gallery during the session and if you think you need to consult with us call a short recess and we can meet."

"There you have it." Albus says," Do we need to discuss this? Are we all in agreement? This will give us an inroad to the Wizengamot where we can keep an eye on the minister and his undersecretary and also catch wind of any emergencies that need to be dealt with by the Hunters."

After a general discussion of the ramifications this will cause in the magical community, they all look around at each other and agree to take the positions.

"Who are the Hunters, Albus," Minerva asks?

Severus smirks as Harry and Hermione stand up and morph into their alter egos and say in unison," we are the Hunters, fighters for truth and justice."

Harry explains," With these disguises, we can do what needs to be done without giving our real selves away and with our hoods up you can't see our faces. This will hopefully keep the muggle government from finding out who we are and causing trouble. We recently rescued Draco's mother from his father and now they are together, untouched by Lucious' hatred. With you five on the inside, we can hopefully respond quicker to any trouble that comes our way. This is one of the reasons for the council. To send us on missions that needs doing for the betterment of the wizarding world. We may intervene in the muggle world to stop a robbery or terrorist if the situation comes up and we are aware of it."

Hermione continues," We are going to be here for a long time and will slowly build up our reputation so muggles and wizards will respect us and want us around."

"Sounds Slythern to me," Severus says with a smirk," very cunning and ambitious."

The hat clears it's throat and says," Yes it does, doesn't it. I had difficulty placing them in a house as they have the traits to be in all of them. I decided on Hufflepuff due to their loyalty to each other and their love for the world in general."

"Yes, we do love the world we were born into and will eventually have to do something about all the nuclear weapons lying around in third world countries. Our greatest fear is a group of suicide terrorists getting a hold of one and setting it off in a major city such as London." Hermione responds to the hat.

Harry looks over at Albus and asks," What needs to be done next to get everyone set up as our proxies?"

"You will need to appear at the start of the session for a swearing in ceremony to set your proxies. I will arrange it with the Wizengomot as the first order of the day," he says," I will come and get you a little before the session starts, so make sure you are in your best robes to make a good impression on the other members."

"We will Grandpa," they say in unison," We are off to join our friends now. We will see everyone at the session." And with that, they phase out silently to the train to join their friends for the rest of the trip home.

"Did you see that Albus," Minerva gasps," they apparated right out of your office."

"That's not apparition, it is something they call phasing. It is unique to them and no wards will stop them. They can fly without a broom too. The most amazing experience I've ever had." Albus says proudly about his grandchildren, then stands up," Meeting adjourned, have a good summer everyone and I will see you again for the session."

They all leave the office and head their separate ways for the summer holidays.

While the meeting is going on in the Headmaster's office Neville, Susan and Hannah have a conversation while covering for the Potters.

"So, do you have any plans for the summer Neville," Susan asks?

"Not really, "he answers," I usually just work in my greenhouses."

"I'm sure aunty wouldn't mind you coming over to spend time with us," Susan invites, "we're always going over to Hannah's to swim and play volley ball."

"That sounds like fun, I'll ask Gran if I can come over," Neville says with a smile.

At that time the door to their compartment is opened, uninvited, by Theodor Knott. With Crabbe and Goyle on each side of him, he sneers while looking into the compartment," Where's Potter and his mudblood, I have a message for him."

As he finishes speaking Harry and Hermione phase in behind the trio in the hallway.

"We're right here Knott, what can me and my mudblood do for you, other than throw you off the train?" Harry asks amused at the trio as they start in surprise.

Knott, along with his sidekicks pull out their wands, thinking to hex Harry when a second later they find themselves disarmed with Harry holding their wands. No one saw him move except Hermione.

"Did you really have a message, or were you trying to show your pureblood stupidity." Harry says with a serious look on his face," you three can have these back at King's Cross."

"The message is from Malfoy Sr., He want's Draco back and thinks you had something to do with his mother's abduction." Knott says trembling a little at how easy he was disarmed.

"Why would he think a couple of first year students could pull that off? We're the same age as you." Harry asks back?

"I don't know. He sent an owl to me with the message and I'm giving it to you, as I was told to." Knott explains.

"Your message has been delivered, come back here just before we arrive at King's Cross and you can have your wands back." Harry says to the three.

They leave to go back to their compartment while Harry and Hermione enter the compartment with their friends and sit down.

"That was awesome Harry, I saw you appear right behind them and I think you scared them a bit." Neville says excitedly.

"Maybe, we better watch out for Malfoy Sr. when we arrive," Hermione says to Harry," He might try to cause trouble."

The rest of the trip passes without incident and as they are approaching the station the three boys come back for their wands, which are returned. The boys and girls trade out using the compartment to change out of their school robes for as they get ready to depart the train. The train arrives and as the Potters step down from the train, Malfoy Sr. grabs Harry's arm and apparates away. Hermione screams and follows Harry to Malfoy Manor. She appears right next to Harry startling Lucius who aims his wand at her.

"Crucio," He screams.

The spell hits her, washing over her as she just stands there looking back at him. Mr. Malfoy can't believe that his spell is having no effect on her. He is sweating from the effort it takes to hold the spell on her, like he is having to push the spell through a thick barrier.

"Are you quite finished," She says as she summons his wand from him," What do you want that you would abduct children to get."

"What are you? No one can withstand that spell." He gasps, breathing hard.

"Doesn't matter what we are, you haven't answered my question." She says impatiently while twirling his wand through her fingers.

"I want my son back," He says, eying his wand," It was reported to me that he wasn't on the train."

"And you thought abducting Harry would get your son back," she asks incredulously?

"No, making Harry Potter disappear, would affect the whole magical world and I would get revenge for my master. Then Draco would have seen I am right about pureblood supremacy. " He says smugly.

"You do know that your way of thinking is killing off the pureblood families," She states.

He looks at her with disbelief and says," That's not true. What would you know about it, you're just a kid?"

"Harry and I have full muggle educations. Meaning we understand about genetics." She responds.

"Bah, Muggles are just animals, what do they know." He scoffs.

"Those animals, as you put it, outnumber us magicals by at least one thousand to one. They put a man on the moon in 1969 in one of their rockets and are about two hundred years ahead of us in technology. What we do with magic, they do with their technology. They could destroy this house with a single bomb and there would be nothing left but a big hole in the ground. You do not want them to perceive us as a threat. Muggle genetics is what made us what we are. If you don't understand what that means then you won't understand about inbreeding. Inbreeding is what happens when cousins marry and have children. You only have a single heir like most of the other pureblood families for this reason. If intermixing with half blood and muggleborn does not take place, there won't be any major families left in Britain within the next two hundred years." She lectures.

Harry says," What she says is true; you can bet your life on it. Draco took a port key from school so we don't know where he is. Come on Hermione, mum and dad will be worried if we take too long."

"This is for abducting Harry," She says as she snaps his wand between two of her fingers.

They grab each other's hand and phase out back to the platform where they grab their trollies and exit to greet her parents. The whole event takes less than fifteen minutes and no one has noticed their absence. As soon as they exit to the muggle side they are met by their parents with hugs all around. Putting their trunks in the boot. everyone gets in the car to go home.

Back at Malfoy manor Mr. Malfoy is sitting at his desk with a bottle of fire whisky and a glass in his hand trying to puzzle out what went wrong.

"How could she have shown up almost the same instant he and his hostage did, blowing right through the wards like they weren't even there. What kind of wizards are those two?" he sits there thinking, his hands still shaking a little," she didn't even flinch when my curse hit her. I'll have to come up with another way to eliminate them."

Then his face contorts in to a big evil smile as he remembered the diary in his desk's special hiding place. He gets it out and sets it on top of the desk, then gets his spare wand out and waves it over the diary, putting a strong compulsion charm on it to entice the person he plans on planting it on to want to write in it, activating the curse.

"This should make the little blood traitor open the chamber, releasing Slytherin's monster to cleanse the school of the half-bloods and mudbloods." He says laughing to himself," I can't wait for school to start back up so I can get my revenge."

He didn't notice the house elf creeping through the rafters above him, listening to everything he is saying. He is Draco's elf and was sent to get his master's things when he heard Malfoy Sr. talking to himself. The elf decides to investigate to see if he can learn anything before completing his task.

"_I will needs to warn the Elders,"_ he thinks to himself_," that's what I wills do, as soon as I get master's things." _

The elf pops away silently to Draco's room and collects all of his things, leaving nothing behind. He then pops back to his master to tell him the news and get his advice.

"Master, I overhears your father plottings to set a monster loose on the school whens it starts backs up. I woulds like your permissions to informs the Elders so they cans be ready." The elf says.

Draco's and his mother's eyes get wide at the mention of word "Elders" and ask.

"Who are the Elders you speak of Dobby?" asks Draco.

"Theys be the great Lord and Lady Potter master," Dobby says bowing deeply.

"You have my permission Dobby, but wait for a few weeks, so they can have a good summer before hearing the news," Draco says with his mother's approval.

"As you command master," Dobby says and pops out to sort and put away his master belongings.

Draco looks at his mother and says," I had no idea they were Elders. I thought the story of the elders was just a legend, but it explains a lot about them and how they conduct themselves at school."

"How so?" she asks.

"Well," he says thinking back," I had to put on a pretty good act to fool the other Slytherins. While doing so, I had several encounters with the Potters and tried to antagonize them to no avail. They never raised their voices to anyone except once when I carried it too far and she sent me to my room by waving her hand. I appeared in my room with a sign around my neck and had to stay there for a week. A little embarrassing, but that was the one act of power that convinced me they might be able to help us. I'm glad I followed through with my instincts about them."

"Me too son," she says," me too."

While Draco and his mother are talking about them, the Potters and Grangers are driving home with the Potters telling all about their school year and how they won the house cup for the first time ever. A few cars ahead of them on the highway a tractor-trailer combo with large pipes on the back swerves to avoid a stray animal in the road. One of the tie-down straps has a tear in it, unbeknownst to the driver, and gives way. This causes the load of pipes to swing to the side as the rig swerves suddenly, breaking more straps as the pipes start to un-stack themselves, falling off the sides of the trailer onto the road. The pipes are the concrete type used for drainage ditches, which are quite large and heavy. The driver does his best to slow his rig down to minimize the damage, but the load and inertia is too much for the truck and trailer causing it to overturn and land on its side.

Jeeves manages to slow the Rolls down and pull over to the side of the road to avoid being hit by the load. When the Grangers look in the rear seat to see if Harry and Hermione are okay they notice that they are no longer in the car. Looking around outside the car for them, they don't see them anywhere but the do see that one of the cars ahead of them is not so lucky. One of the pipes from the truck has landed on top of the car, caving the roof down to the level of the hood. The police and fire department soon arrive and the officer in charge calls for an ambulance as they try to get the doors open on the car. Harry and Hermione are standing on the side of the road disillusioned, in their Pantheras guise, waiting to see what they can do to help.

"They're jammed pretty good," the officer says while trying to get the doors to open," I can't budge them, even with my crow bar. We need a crane to move the pipe off the top to even have a chance to get them out."

Hunter and Huntress look at each other and think together: _"This will be our official introduction to the world. Let's do this."_

As the officer in charge is calling for a crane the police and bystanders hear a whooshing sound and feel the air swirl around them when something unusual starts to happen. The pipe slowly starts to lift off the top of the car as the two Pantheras fade into view on either end of the pipe. They lift the pipe up using their hands and float up about ten feet in the air where they move the pipe safely over to the side of the road and set it down. The firemen immediately go to work trying to use the Jaws of Life to get the doors open. The Hunters ask the firemen to stand back and then fly to a door each where they grab hold and pull. The doors come right off allowing the paramedics that have arrived with the ambulances that were called to go to work. They manage to stabilize the driver and his wife, who are then loaded into ambulances to be taken to hospital with the sirens screaming and lights flashing.

The couple walk up to the officer in charge and after looking at her badge ask," Officer Constance, how can we help further?"

"Who are you and how did you do that?" she asks, amazed and grateful for their abilities.

"I am Hunter and this lovely lady is my wife, Huntress, we call ourselves the Pantheras, Hunters of Truth and Justice. We were flying by while cloaked and saw the accident happen and thought we could help." Hunter says." We can remove the other pipes from the roadway and right the truck if someone will direct us on where they want everything placed."

"As for how we can do this; let's save that for another time. There's work to be done" Huntress says.

The couple flies over to the other pipes, removing them from the trailer and setting them together along the side of the road. They then proceed to right the truck and move it off the road so the firemen can use their hoses to clean it for traffic use. When they are done, the Pantheras salute farewell to the officers and firemen with two fingers to their brows and fly up about twenty feet in the air where they fade from view. A few seconds later the air swirls again and everyone hears a swooshing sound as they leave.

As the rescue and cleanup happens the Grangers stay sitting in their car, watching the whole scene. They watch as the pipe slowly lifts up, astonished as everyone else until the couple fades into view; then they know what is happening. That is their children out there helping to save those people. When the couple flies over to the Big Rig and effortlessly lifts it from the ground to right it, they know right then how special their children really are and are very proud of them. When everything is done and the couple fade out they almost immediately feel a shift in the air and when they look back, Harry and Hermione are sitting in the back seat as if they had never left.

"We're so proud of you the way you handled yourselves out there." Mrs. Granger says smiling," You gave those people a chance to live."

"The paramedics said they should be fine since they were able to treat them sooner rather than later and thanked us for showing up when we did." Hermione says.

"That's good news," Mr. Granger adds.

"We thought so as well and were grateful we could help." Harry says.

Jeeves has been watching the officers who start waving traffic through and says, "Looks like it is okay to proceed now. Let's go home."

The family continues with the drive home while conversing about the school year. Due to the delay from the accident it is decided to get take out for dinner so Jeeves wouldn't have to cook. When they arrive at home everyone piles out of the car to go inside with Jeeves leading the way so he can hold the door. Once inside, Jeeves snaps his fingers and both the school trunks are transferred from the boot to Harry and Hermione's room. After dinner everyone gathers in the sitting room for tea and brandy. The telly is turned on to watch the late evening news before bed and there is the accident for all to see. Mr. Granger turns up the sound to hear what is being said.

"An extraordinary thing happened on the M4 highway today. A tractor trailer combo turned over on its side spilling its cargo of pipes onto the road with one landing on a car, crushing the roof. The police and paramedics showed up shortly after and began the work of rescuing the unfortunate victims of the crash. Using the Jaws of Life the firemen tried to remove the doors to the crushed car without success. The weight of the pipe on top was preventing the Jaws form working. I overheard the fireman say that a crane was needed to remove the pipe when it suddenly started floating up from the car. Two beings faded into view holding the pipe on each end while lifting it up into the air about three meters to clear the car top and other debris setting the pipe out of the way. They then flew over to the car and calmly removed the doors by pulling with their bare hands. This allowed the paramedics to save the couple in the crushed car. The two beings then talked to the officer in charge and proceeded to right the tractor trailer, then removed the rest of the load and the truck itself to the side of the road allowing clean up to happen. Without these beings showing up there might have been two fatalities today. When asked who the beings were, the officer they talked to said they were flying by when they witnessed the accident happen and decided to stop and help. They said the stylized 'P' that was on their cloaks stood for Pantheras, Hunters for Truth and Justice. I call them beings because even though they look human, no human being I know of could have done what those two did. Whatever they are, this reporter is glad they showed up when they did allowing two lives to be saved. I wonder if we will see them again in the future. I for one, hope so."

While the reporter was talking, the camera holder was catching it all on tape for the viewers. The screen showed all the action with clear shots of the Pantheras at work.

"Well, the government will definitely be looking for those obvious aliens" Mrs. Granger prompted after seeing the video.

"We flew off a few hundred miles to the north before phasing to the back of the car. Even if they have a way of tracking us, they will never find us here due to the phasing. No one can track that." Hermione says.

"That's good to know," Mrs. Granger says in relief," Every time you two do something I worry about being discovered."

"It's aright mum and dad," Harry reassures them," We always take precautions."

"I know you do. You two have always had our best interests at heart as we have yours." Mr. Granger says," Anything we should know about this summer before vacation plans are made?"

"Just one thing dad," Hermione responds," The annual summer Wizengamot session is at the end of July and we have to be there to seat our proxies."

"Okay, that gives us about a month. Let's plan a vacation in the south of France starting next week to be back in time for the session. Can muggles attend?" Mr. Granger asks?

"If we disguise you as wizards I don't see why not. It's just a swearing in ceremony and you can sit in the gallery with the ordinary people and no one will know the difference. Hold out your watches please." He commands.

They hold their watches out and Harry places his hand on Mr. Granger's watch face while Hermione does the same to her mother's. The watches glow for a few seconds and when the glow fades Harry says," Now you two are protected from all curses and charms that can harm you including the unforgivable's. Never take the watches off please. This will make you safe in the chamber while the session runs."

The Grangers look at their watches with a new reverence and vow to never take them off.

"What about airport security Harry?" Mr. Granger asks because they travel a lot.

"The watches have Notice Me Not charms on them and can't be picked up by the metal detectors so you should be okay for traveling." Hermione answers.

"That makes me feel safer," Mrs. Granger says.

"You're welcome mum." Harry says.

She hugs both of her children and says," Off to bed with you we have a long planning session tomorrow."

Harry and Hermione both yawn and say together," Good night."

Everyone heads to their rooms for a good night's sleep knowing they had a fulfilling day, looking forward to going on vacation.


	2. Vacation and a Session

**Chapter 17: Vacation and a Session**

The next morning after breakfast the family gathers in the sitting room to plan their vacation for the next three weeks. After looking at maps and vacation destinations they decide on the beach of Argelès Plage on the Mediterranean for good tanning potential and then on to Paris to visit the Eifel Tower and other sites.

After purchasing their plane tickets they leave for their vacation the next day. It is the first time on a plane for Harry and he is all excited about the trip. Hermione just smiles at his enthusiasm as he keeps looking out the window at the ground far below.

"Think we can fly this high Hermione," asks Harry?

She looks out the window and says," I'm not sure, the air is thin this high up. We will have to experiment to see if it affects us. I suppose we could hold our breaths if we need to."

"I think we need to find out soon so we can see if we have any limits we should know about," Harry says.

"Good idea," Hermione responds, "we could try the breath thing at the beach under water where no one can see what we are doing."

"Ok, as soon as we get settled in we will give it a try," Harry agrees.

They snuggle together and nap for the rest of the flight to the beach resort. Arriving at the hotel, they have a nice lunch and get dressed for the beach and go out to enjoy the fun and sun.

After playing for a while as children normally do at the beach Harry and Hermione walk up to their parents where Harry says," Mum, Dad, Hermione and I are going swimming where we are going to try an experiment under water. If you don't see us for a while try not panicking too much as our magic will always protect us. We are going to see if we need to hold our breaths for long underwater swims or just project an air bubble around us to stay under. The high speed flight north didn't affect us so we think this will be ok. This should help us with high altitude flight as well; we need to know if we have any limits. We don't think we do as we are immortal but it would be nice to be sure."

"Ok son," Mr. Granger agrees," please stay safe and let us know the results of your test. I have utmost confidence in you two to do the right thing."

"Thanks Dad, that means a lot to us." Hermione says.

They wade out into the water casually so as not to attract any attention and then dip under and start swimming. Soon they are very deep in the water and swim a few miles out to sea. As they look at each other they notice a slight glow around each other and they seem to breathe just fine under water.

"_Want to try altitude now?"_ Harry thinks to Hermione.

"_Yes, lets dissolution ourselves first so no one will notice."_ She answers.

After disillusionment, they swim to the surface and with a sonic boom they take to the sky. A very high plume of water follows them as they leave the surface and unbeknownst to them the sonic boom and water plume are detected by the French Coast Guard and an alert is sent out that they are tracking two very high speed objects leaving the surface of the water. The nearest base scrambles two Mirage F1CR fighters to intercept the unknown objects.

Harry and Hermione are flying along going higher and higher and notice the same glow surrounding them that was around them under water having no trouble breathing at high altitudes either. They switch to using their Panthera personas as a precaution while they are flying. The couple are having fun and don't notice the two jets coming up slowly behind them.

The lead pilot radios his wingman one on a private channel," Those don't look like missiles or rockets to me."

"I don't think they are either. They look like two glowing points of light. Better report this to base. Turn on the cameras for recordings," The leader orders.

"Yes sir," the other pilot answers and complies.

They turn on their wing cameras and start filming what they were seeing.

"Base, this is scramjet one. We have caught up to the bogies; barley," the leader reports.

"What do you mean barely?" the base commander wants to know.

"They are flying just under mach one point three ahead of us and above. If they had been flying any faster we would not have caught up to them. Also the bogies are not, I repeat are not missiles or rockets. They appear to be two glowing points of light, we are moving up to intercept." The leader says.

Hunter and Huntress feel the air displacement of the jets approaching from behind and below and look back at them.

Hunter thinks to Huntress," _I think we should let them see us and we can talk to them in their minds through legilimancy. This will help establish us a bit further with the muggles."_

"_Ok Harry you take the lead, I will follow."_ She returns.

The pilots watch as two beings shimmer into view ahead of them. They look like a man and a woman in cloaks with a blue shimmering glow around them. The pair of beings looks back at them and then with no warning they both turn quickly to fly a loop around each plane and end up flying right next to the cockpits of each plane, with Hunter next to the leader and Huntress next to the wingman's plane. The pilots are a bit startled by the sudden maneuver but recover quickly enough when they see the pair flying alongside them.

Hunter looks over at the leader and thinks to him," _Can you hear me. I am speaking to you in your head so you won't see my mouth move. Just think back at me and I will hear you."_

The pilot eyes get wide and he thinks back," _I can hear you. How is this possible?"_

"_It is because of who we are that we can do this. It should be obvious by now we are not completely Earth human. We were born on Earth and this is our home. My wife and I mean this planet no harm; we were sent here as guardians to save it from itself. You can tell your commander that two Elders from the Galactic Community of Planets now reside here and will do what is needed to insure the planet develops normally and will try to avert any major disasters from terrorist groups. Our logo stands for Pantheras, which means hunters and we are hunters of truth and justice. We will not interfere in the day to day affairs of any government on the planet unless they try to use weapons of mass destruction. Then we will have to be brutal in our response to the aggressor. I hope it never comes to that as we prefer to never have to take a life if we can help it. We come in peace."_ Hunter thinks back to the leader.

"_My commander won't believe this,"_ the leader thinks back.

"_I implanted the message onto the tapes in your wing cameras to help convince him and to back up your story. You may spread this around the world if you think it will help against terrorists and other rouge organizations by putting the fear of the Creator in them. They will never know when we will strike against them or how. We will be watching."_ Hunter states.

He looks over to Huntress and nods. They immediately accelerate to mach five shooting straight up and disappearing; leaving a couple of startled pilots behind.

"Scramjet one come in," the commander calls," where are the bogies? They disappeared off our scopes."

"I don't know, they suddenly accelerated away straight up and were gone before we could see what happened." He responds," I did get some good film coverage and a message from them."

"What message?" the commander asks.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. He said he implanted the message on the film so you would have evidence of this encounter." The lead responds.

"Return to base immediately," The commander orders.

"Yes sir, returning to base," the leader says.

The two Mirage F1CRs do a loop around and return the way they came and eventually land at the air base where the film is removed from the jets and rushed to be developed.

After the film is developed and analyzed, which didn't take more than an hour; it is set up for the base command staff to watch in order to make a decision on how to handle the incident. While watching the film one of the officers notices the stylized "P" on the cloaks of the alien flyers.

"Sir," he says to the commander," I recognize that symbol on their cloaks"

"Go ahead colonel, tell us what you know." The commander says.

"Well, I have a sister in England and she told me about a news story where two beings fitting the description of those flyers saved two people from being crushed by a large drainage pipe in a road accident a few days ago. They lifted the pipe off the top of the crushed car and took the doors right off allowing the paramedics to rescue the driver and his wife. They will make a full recovery from the accident. The two individuals talked to the police officer in charge and helped clean up the mess. They had British accents when they talked and they did say they were born here on Earth according to the message. I feel reasonably safe to say we have new allies and have nothing to worry about from them. I'm sure we can get a copy of that film if you like sir." He reports.

"Very good colonel, let's acquire a copy of the news story to corroborate your report and kick it up to the High Command to handle. We've done our part." The commander states," Dismissed!"

They all file out of the meeting and go back to their regular duties, glad the excitement is over for now. Unbeknown to the command staff two disillusioned people are watching the whole proceeding and are satisfied by the results.

"_Well, we will have to wait and see what happens next, if anything," _Harry thinks to Hermione.

"_Yea, they may just sweep it under a rug for now or file it away somewhere never to see the light of day again."_ Hermione thinks back_," let's go back to the beach."_

They phase back to their spot under the water and come up to the surface and swim to shore where they go up to their parents and lay down next to them to soak up some sun.

"How'd it go you two?" Mr. Granger asks.

"It went well," Harry answers," We went several miles under water and then went ballistic to high altitudes with no effect whatsoever on us."

"That's good to hear son," Mr. Granger responds, shaking his head in amazement at his two children.

After a few more days at the beach they all have nice tans and decide to go ahead with the rest of their trip. The family visits the Eifel Tower and view the Arch de Triumph. After a general good time the vacation finally comes to an end and they return to England and home.

Unbeknownst to the Potters, because of their speed, sonic booms are heard all along their flight path. The noise caught the attention of a freelance videographer, who filmed part of the scene with the fighters and two glowing objects flying overhead. The film makes the international news the next day to the astonishment of the world.

/

The evening that the family returns from vacation they get a visit from a strange elf. The family is sitting around the coffee table in the sitting room discussing the vacation and going over all the pictures they took while in France when the said strange elf pops into the Grangers sitting room unannounced where Harry freezes him in place with a wave of his hand.

Harry and Hermione get up and look the elf over and determine there is no malicious intent in the elf, so they release him.

"Identify yourself please and tell us why you are here," Harry demands.

"I is Dobby," the elf squeaks in awe of Harry," Yous is the Great Harry Potter Sir."

Hermione comes around to the front of the elf next to Harry and when Dobby sees her as well he throws himself on the ground in supplication," Yous is the Great Elders of the Universe. Dobby is highly honored to bees in your presence."

Harry looks at Hermione and shrugs," Stand and face us Dobby. Why are you here?"

"Yous might not remember mees sir. I was at Malfoy Manor when yous freed the mistress from the bad man." Dobby says," I has a message for the Elders."

"Go ahead Dobby, we remember you now and we're listening." Hermione says gently.

"I was ats Malfoy Manor one night sneaking in to gets masters things whens I overhears bad man planning to give cursed object to blood traitor," He says.

"What was this cursed object and who is the blood traitor," Harry asks?

"The cursed object bees a book that's you write in. Bad mans puts magic on book to make blood traitor write in book activating the curse." Dobby says, "Dobby does not knows who blood traitors is. Bad mans says book will opens Chamber of Secrets, releasing the monster withins to get rid of blood traitors and mudbloods."

"Thank you for the warning, Dobby. Can you tell us who your master is," Hermione asks?

"Since he gaves me permission to comes and warns you I can tell you his name. It is Draco Black. He is a good master and I likes working for hims and the mistress Ms. Black." Dobby says proudly.

Jeeves interrupts when he walks in and says," Dinner is served."

Dobby takes one look at him and with tears in his eyes he says," The curse has been broken. I needs to tell everyones so theys can be free from it too."

Harry looks at Dobby and says," We will speak to Draco and get him to release you from the curse as well. We are trying to get all the elves released but it will take a while."

"The Elders are wise and good. I will tell master of this." Dobby says and then pops away.

"Well, that was an interesting encounter," Mrs. Granger says.

"Yea," Harry says," It means our next school year will be interesting as well."

'Let's eat,' Mr. Granger declares and they all go into the dining room for dinner.

/

On July 28th in the early afternoon while watching a football game on the telly Fawkes flashes into the sitting room at the Granger's with a message for the Potters.

"Hello Fawkes," Harry says happily," You have something for us?"

Fawkes drops the note in Harry's hand and flies over to Hedwig's stand to socialize for a bit. Everyone laughs at the two birds trilling to each other.

"What's the note say Harry," Hermione asks?

Harry reads the note and says," The session starts in two days at noon. We need to be there for the swearing in ceremony for new members and should show up 30 minutes ahead."

Hermione looks over at her parents and asks," You two still want to go?"

They nod their heads yes," very much so. We want to see how it is done in the magical world."

"Okay, we need to go to Diagon Alley for new robes for you with Potter crests on them then. Take hold of our arms and we will phase you there to save time." Harry says.

They all stand in a circle in the center of the room and Harry phases them to the apparition point near Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. The family enters the shop and picks out some very nice robes in a neutral color that won't stand out too much in a crowd. They have the crests applied and then make their way back home.

On July 30th ministry workers open up the doors to the Wizengamot chambers to get the room ready for use and notice there are four new seats where there were none before. They are located just behind and a tier above the Chief Warlock's seat. They each have a founders crest on them and look very comfortable. As the workers are staring in astonishment, the Chief Warlock and the Minister for Magic, followed by his undersecretary walk into the room.

Minister Fudge looks at the chairs and sputters," what the meaning of this Albus? Is this some sort of joke?"

Albus Dumbledore just chuckles and says," It looks like the chamber is aware of what is going to happen today."

"You don't mean to tell me the founders are back do you," Fudge says irritated," That's ridiculous."

"No Cornelius, the Founder's **heirs** are back and they are going to seat their proxies today as they are still too young to vote." Albus responds.

"Who are they Albus?" the Minister demands," I can't let children disrupt the ministry for a prank."

"You'll see when the time comes. Best get to your seat. The delegates are arriving." Albus says.

Meanwhile at the Grangers everyone is ready to leave when Harry gives instructions to Jeeves:

"Take our parents to the entrance to the visitors section and watch over them. We are going to make an entrance to prove we are not to be trifled with."

Jeeves bows and says," Yes my Lord, your orders will be followed. They will be safe with me. For backup, I will have a couple of Potter elves disillusioned nearby to help if needed."

"Very good," Harry says.

He then turns to the Grangers and grins," Just get comfortable and enjoy the show."

They smile back at Harry and Hermione while Jeeves takes a hand each and pops them away.

Harry looks at Hermione and asks," You ready for this? It could get hostile."

"Yes, I think everything will turn out just fine in the end or there will be a few less members than they started with today." She answers back with a smirk on her face.

Back at the chamber the full delegation is seated and the doors are closed for the start of the session.

"_So much for the Founders heirs showing up," _Fudge thinks snidely.

The Chief Warlock bangs his gavel to bring the session to order.

"As everyone has probably noticed there are four new seats behind me that haven't been seen in almost a thousand years. Today we will hold a swearing in ceremony for the Founders heirs to choose proxies for their seats until they become of age to vote." Albus declares.

The noise in the room increases to a low roar as everyone talks at once in disbelief.

"Are you out of your mind Albus," Fudge says," Once those doors are closed no one can get in and they are well guarded on the outside."

Albus just smiles because he knows what's coming. As the noise in the chamber increases to an all-time high, everyone begins to hear the sound of music coming from all around the chamber; it seems to be coming from everywhere when a sudden flash takes place above the chamber and a white phoenix appears as the source of the singing, calming the chamber down. In the midst of this two figures silently materialize in the center of the chamber startling everyone into silence.

"Impossible," Fudge says astonished," you can't apparate inside the ministry."

"That was not apparition. They call it phasing and no wards can stop them." Albus says," They are not a threat unless you decide to make them one. You won't survive as Minister if you do."

"Is that a threat Dumbledore," Fudge rants agitated. He hates surprises, especially political ones.

"No, it's a fact. Watch and learn minister." Albus says calmly.

"Now that everyone is here, we can get started," Albus bangs his gavel and says in his formal voice, "What business do you bring before the Wizengamot today Lord and Lady Potter?"

The Potters turn as one and face the Chief Warlock and say in unison, with power in their voices," We come before the Wizengamot to declare proxies for our rightful seats; as is our right, until we can take them ourselves."

Everyone is hushed by the power in the voices of the young witch and wizard.

"Very well, you may begin the ceremony Lord Potter, by declaring your full name and activating your seats, then, you may name your proxies. When he is done you may follow Lady Potter."

Harry's eyes begin to glow a luminous green as he raises his hand where all three of his rings appear," I am Lord Harry James Hufflepuff Gryffindor Potter. I declare my seats activated."

Two beams of swirling magic, one yellow and one red, leave his rings striking the crests on the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor seats, causing them to glow momentarily. No one has ever seen such power in the chamber before. This is definitely not the norm.

"I name Minerva McGonagall as my proxie for Gryffindor and Pamona Sprout for Hufflepuff as they are most versed on how their respective houses would vote on modern day issues." Harry declares.

Proxy rings appear on the index finger of each person named and they walk up to take their seats.

Lady Potter steps up next and her eyes also take on an ethereal glow as she holds up her hand showing here rings and declares," I am Lady Hermione Ravenclaw Slytherin Potter. I declare my seats activated."

Again, two swirling beams of magic leave her rings, one blue and one green, hitting the Ravenclaw and Slytherin crests causing them to glow momentarily.

"I name Filius Flitwick as my proxy for Ravenclaw House and Severus Snape as my Proxy for Slytherin House." She declares.

Proxy rings appear on their fingers and they walk up to take their seats. After the four are seated Harry has one more proxy to declare.

"I Lord Harry James Potter name my Grandfather, Albus Dumbledore, as my proxy for the Potter seat." He declares proudly.

The proxy ring appears on his grandfather's finger and he smiles back at Harry.

The room is in an uproar over the selections of Flitwick and Snape from the pureblood faction. They both sit in their seats stoically knowing there is nothing to worry about.

"I OBJECT!" declares one member of the pureblood faction.

"On what grounds," the Chief Warlock asks?

"Flitwick is a half breed and Snape is a half blood and a death eater," the member responds.

"Seconded," Madam Umbridge declares without thinking.

Fudge looks at her and says," you can't do that. You're not allowed."

She looks back at him and whispers," Sorry, I couldn't help myself. We can't let a half breed that's not even human and a half-blood sit in the highest seats in the ministry. We just can't. I won't allow it."

"You have no say in the matter madam. With the heirs back, you and I may not have a say in much of anything after today." Fudge whispers fiercely.

"If you two are quite finished I would like to proceed," Albus says quietly.

"By all means Chief Warlock, sorry for the interruption," Fudge says.

The Chief Warlock turns to Lady Potter and says, "Lady Potter, would you like to answer this objection?"

"Yes Chief Warlock, I will." She declares.

"_Here goes a lecture,"_ Harry smirks to himself.

She just looks over at him and smiles lovingly.

"Honored members; every war has soldiers on both sides. Voldemort (everyone shudders) had his Death Eaters and we had the Aurors and Hit Wizards. Voldemort decided to mark his soldiers like cattle and led his men by using fear. Proxy Snape was one such soldier from the last war and no longer has the slave mark from Voldemort." She states.

She then turns to Professor Snape and says," Slytherin Proxie, please stand up and show your arms."

He stands to show his bare arms to prove there is no dark mark.

She continues," Lord Potter and I removed the mark from his arm a year ago. It was affecting his personality and teaching methods. He is a better man now than ever. We discovered that the mark is more than a tattoo. It is a leach, a direct connection to Voldemort. He is still roaming around as a spirit and is not completely dead yet. The proof is the mark and the fact that you are still alive. I can sense nineteen slave marks in this room right now. Unfortunately, anyone with the mark will perish when he dies as he will try to steal your life force to stay alive when we destroy him."

"You lie; He Who Must not be Named is dead. He can't come back," someone yells in fright.

"While I have no animosity against ex-soldiers; I can prove your marks are still active if you don't mind everyone knowing who you are." She deadpans, looking toward the speaker.

"Prove it then" He says in disbelief.

She holds up her hand which starts to glow, then clutches her fist, causing nineteen people grab their left arms in pain. This of course causes a stir when some of the arm grabber's turn out to be prominent, well known, members of society.

"Like I said earlier; I have no animosity against soldiers from the last war, as long as they repent their ways and live in peace. If you want your mark removed and can get through the wards at Hogwarts as proof of your redemption, the mark can be removed." She says," As for Proxy Snape being a half blood, it doesn't matter. Blood has no bearing on whether a witch or wizard can perform magic. Blood is only in the body to keep you alive. Your magical core is what determines your strength as a witch or wizard and has nothing to do with being a pure-blood. Marrying your cousin to supposedly preserve your pureblood line only pollutes it with inbreeding. That is the reason most of you can only have one child and no more. Your name alone should be enough to preserve your bloodline through the father or mother depending on whether it is patriarchal or matriarchal in nature. If it wasn't for the fact wizards live long lives, so called pure-bloods would have died out a long time ago."

She conjures a glass of water, takes a sip and continues," As for Proxy Flitwick; he has a unique perspective on the world due to his mixed race. He is half goblin and half human. The goblins are the most trustworthy race on the planet. They are fierce and honest. Treat them well at the bank and see how much your service improves. He has been head of Ravenclaw house for seventy five years and is the smartest being I know. I trust him to vote his conscious in my place as proxy. Besides, you can't change it anyway. The chamber won't allow prejudicial bills to be passed any more, now that we are here. The Founders did not believe wizards were superior to other magical species. We are all the same under the Creator of all Things."

"Thank you for the speech Lady Potter. I declare this ceremony over with the seats accepted as named." The Chief Warlock declares, banging his gavel.

She leaves the main floor to sit with her husband in the gallery.

As the general session is progressing, Harry and Hermione can feel the tension building up in one of the death eater members and is on high alert. The member in question is staring with hatred at Harry and Hermione where they are sitting near the front of the gallery on the upper tier; seemingly not paying attention. He raises his wand arm slowly and when the tip of his wand passes the end of his sleeve he sends a silent severing spell straight at Hermione's neck. She turns quickly toward him while raising her right hand, stopping the spell and causing it to hover in front of her. With her left hand she reaches out with a clutching gesture. The offending member is lifted out of his seat and summoned across the room with his robes bunched together at the chest as if a hand is clutching them. The whole Wizengamot, having witnessed the spell crossing the room, is now watching to see what's going to happen next.

When the member arrives in front of her she looks at him with hard eyes," What do you think I should do with this spell you just tried to murder me with? Should I let you have it back or just dissipate it so no one gets hurt?"

He just swallows with fear in his eyes.

"Lucky for you I don't kill if I can prevent it so I will let it dissipate." She says and everyone sighs in relief as with a flick of her wrist the spell dissipates into nothing.

"Chief Warlock? I seem to have a would be murderer in my custody," she says," What do you want to do with him?"

"Bring him down to the main floor," The Chief Warlock emphasizes," I've already called the Aurors and they should be here momentarily."

Just as he finished speaking a squad of Aurors enters the chamber to apprehend the perpetrator.

"We were told to come here to arrest someone for attempted murder," the lead Auror announces," Where is the prisoner?"

Albus points up to the balcony, which is eight meters above the main floor, to where the prisoner is floating. The Aurors gape up at him and wonder how they are going to get him down. They each pull out their wand for the attempt to get him down when they hear: "That won't be necessary, gentlemen and ladies."

Getting the message from Albus, Hermione looks over at Harry and nods. They get up and each grab an arm of the prisoner, then step over the edge of the gallery, where they walk the prisoner down to the main floor for the Aurors to take into custody.

Hermione approaches the lead Auror and hands him the prisoner's wand.

"You might need this as evidence," she says.

The couple then turns around and proceeds to walk back to the gallery from the main floor, up what appear to be steps shimmering in the air like a stairway.

Meanwhile the rest of the members are in awe of what they just witnessed and decide amongst them the Potters are truly the heirs of the Founders to be able to do such magic without a wand and with so much power. The legend of Harry and Hermione Potter continues to grow.

After the day is over, the Potters meet with the Grangers for dinner and then head home. When they arrive at home everyone retires to the sitting room for Brandy and Butter beer, and just to relax after a long day.

"That was some show you two put on today," George Granger declares happily," I wish parliament was half as interesting."

"Thanks, Dad," Harry responds," I had an idea something was bound to happen because of our choices. We still have a long way to go in the session though. Hopefully it will be a bit smoother."

"I'm sure it will be fine now that you are there," He says.

After relaxing for a while Harry and Hermione get up to head upstairs to bed," Good night Mum and Dad."

"Good night," the Grangers call up the stairs. After a bit of snuggling they also head up to bed for the evening.

The session continued on through the rest of the summer with Harry and Hermione consulting with their proxies only on difficult matters that needed a firm decision from the Council of Five and the Elders


	3. A Visit to the PM, A New King and Queen

_**Chapter 18: A visit to the PM results in A New King and Queen**_

After the wizengamot session is over for the summer, Harry and Hermione having impressed Minister Fudge that they know what they are doing, go home to relax for the rest of summer.

A few days later Harry walks over to where Hermione is sitting while reading a novel and sits next to her.

"Hermione?" he asks.

"Yes harry?" she responds.

"I'm still worried the government is going to discover our identities and try to use our parents to control us," Harry says.

"You sure are paranoid about that," she says while looking over at him," and I love you for it, but what can we do about it?"

"I was thinking we could drop in on the P.M. in our disguise and introduce ourselves. We could offer to protect the Queen's family in a similar way to your parents in exchange for being left alone. We could leave them with contact information if they need our services," Harry says.

"Sounds okay to me Harry, let's talk to mum and dad about it first though," She agrees.

Harry holds his hand out for her to take and they walk into the sitting room where Harry says, "Mum, Dad, we need to talk."

"Go ahead son, you have our attention," Mr. Granger says, with Mrs. Granger looking on, interested in what he has to say.

"Hermione and I have decided to go ahead and introduce ourselves to the government through the P.M.'s office to insure ourselves of your safety with our identity," Harry says.

"Okay son," George Granger agrees," we knew this issue would come to a head someday and you have shown nothing but the best judgment when it comes to our family. We will follow your lead on this. How do you want to handle it?"

Hermione runs and throws her arms around her father crying with happiness," Thank you for loving and believing in my Harry and for trusting him with this."

"What's not to love about Harry," he whispers into her ear," He's been nothing but good for you; **and** us."

She just holds on tighter saying thank you over and over again. After a few minutes of this she walks over to Harry and wraps her arm around his waist in support looking at him with love in her eyes. He smiles at her and looks up at the Grangers.

"You and mum have been the most important people in my life. Without you, I would never have found my Hermione," Harry says," We will use our powers of disillusionment and phasing to go see the P.M. and assure him we are not a threat to the country. We will offer watches similar to yours for the royal family for their protection from hostile magical's. If only they were related through DNA, I could give them the same protection you have."

"We should have no trouble due to our powers." Hermione adds.

"Okay, we'll just sit here and worry like normal parents while you do this." Mr. Granger jokes.

Harry and Hermione morph into the Pantheras and dissolution themselves before phasing to the P.M.'s office at number Ten Downing Street. As they phase in to the P.M.'s office the Hunters see the P.M. on the phone with a very concerned look on his face.

"Are you sure they just disappeared," he asks, "Were there any hostiles in the area?"

After listening to the answer on the other end of the line he says," You are authorized to contact the couple to ascertain the situation. Contact me with an answer ASAP. We can't have Royals going missing now can we? Their safety is highest priority."

The Hunters look at each other in concern and after hearing what was just said; they fade into view in the middle of the P.M.'s office and ask," How can we help?"

The P.M. looks up startled at the sudden appearance of the Hunters. He quickly gets over his surprise as soon as he recognizes the faces of the couple from the stars. He comes around his desk with his hand out and shakes hands with each of the Hunters," I've wanted to meet you ever since you saved that couple from the road crash. The French shared your official video and message with everyone in the hope of getting your message to the world. It was backed up by a free-lance videographer that made the international news the next day. On behalf of the British Commonwealth and Queen Elizabeth ll, I have been authorized to welcome you to planet Earth."

The Hunters shake hands with the P.M. and take seats in front of his desk to discuss the current crisis and what they can do about it.

While the meeting is going on at the P.M.'s office there is a knock on the door at the Granger's home. Jeeve's answers the door and after scanning their minds for ill intent lead the pair into the sitting room where the Granger's are nervously waiting on results from the meeting their children are having with the P.M.

"Dr. and Dr. Granger," Jeeves says by way of introduction," This is agent Michael Hamilton and agent Dominick Chancey of her majesties secret service. They are here about the children."

The agents look at Jeeves with a funny look as he hands their credentials back to them. Especially, since they didn't give them to him in the first place.

"I knew who you were before I let you in the door gentlemen. I too take my security job very seriously and I assure you the children are safe and right now are sitting in the P.M.'s office in a meeting of utmost importance."

Mr. Granger asks concerned," what interest does the secret service have in our children? Have they done something wrong?"

Mr. Hamilton answers," no, they have done nothing wrong except turn up missing just now. Your son is cousin to the Queen and fourth in line for the throne with his twin sister fifth in line. We have been keeping quiet watch over your family since the twins were born. When they turned up missing, we were authorized to contact you to determine if they had been abducted or not. The P.M. is waiting for a call back with an answer."

Mr. Granger looks over to his wife Helen with an amused look on his face that the agents couldn't understand and says," We appreciate your concern about the children as it makes us feel more comfortable about the whole situation with the government now. The children were worried about some rogue government agency trying to abduct us in order to control them so they decided to drop in on the P.M. today and negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement with the government to leave us in peace in exchange for certain protections for the Queen and her family. You see, the children are not twins, they are soul mates, which makes them married despite their ages and they are also the Elders from the stars. You may call the P.M. and inform him of this if they haven't told him already."

Mr. Hamilton pulls out his phone to dial the P.M. when it rings. After a short conversation he says," It appears you are right and we are to return to duty and to be available to you if we are needed." They shake hands all around and Jeeves shows them out where the agents resume their quiet duty patrolling the neighborhood.

At the same time in the P.M.'s office the Hunters look at the P.M. and say seriously," we overheard something about Royals going missing. We can help you find them if you will tell us who they are and where the live. We can start from there."

The P.M. nods and then connects the dots and says with raised eyebrows," There is a family in Crawley with the last name of Granger. The son is a cousin to the Queen and fourth in line for the throne after the grandsons with his twin sister fifth in line. We have been guarding them since they were born even though they didn't live together at first. They seem to have gone missing. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Hunter and Huntress look at each other, surprised at the news about being Royals and decide to come clean with the P.M.

"This makes the real reason we are here a lot easier to explain," Hunter says. The couple stands in front of the P.M.'s desk and morph back into their real appearance.

"This is what we really look like and the Granger's are our parents," Harry says.

The P.M. watches them change from the blonde couple of indeterminate age into a pair of twelve year old what he thinks are fraternal twins and asks," That was an amazing feat. How did you manage it?"

"Have you been briefed on the…" Harry stops as he is interrupted by a cough from the corner of the room. The trio looks over to the part of the room the noise came from and sees a painting of a knight on horseback in front of a castle. They walk up to the painting where, to the P.M.'s surprise, Harry and Hermione bow to the knight in the painting and say, "Good afternoon sir knight. If we are to help the Queen, the Prime Minister must know who he is dealing with. Who might you be Sir Knight?"

The knight doffs his helmet, puts it under his arm, and says," I am Sir Lancelot of King Arthur's court and castle Camelot."

Harry and Hermione bow once more while the P.M. looks on amazed at the now talking and moving painting he has admired since he took office.

"Harry!" Hermione says," That castle looks like Hogwarts."

"Aye, that is its current name, my lady," the knight says.

"I think Ragnock left that little bit for us discover on our own." Harry grumbles as Hermione looks on amused at her husband's disdain at his fame, not realizing just how famous she is about to become if Harry's suspicions are correct.

He looks the knight in the eye and says," My name, sir knight, is Lord Harold James Hufflepuff Gryffindor Potter and this lovely lady is my soul mate the Lady Hermione Jane Ravenclaw Slytherin Potter nee Granger; my wife these last four years. We own the castle in the painting which is now Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

As Harry is speaking, the eyes of the knight take on a fierce blue/white glow of power to them," If this be true, the sword behind you is rightfully yours; **take** it." The knight challenges in a deadly serious voice.

All three turn around at the challenge and see a large round stone in the middle of the room with a sword embedded into the top. Harry grumbles again while Hermione has both her hands over her mouth gasping at what she is looking at. As Harry reluctantly walks over to the stone and reaches with his right hand to grasp the hilt, Harry and Hermione's eyes also take on the fierce blue/white fire of power as the magic builds up around the couple and the sword to the point that all three are glowing brightly. Harry easily pulls the sword from the stone where Harry's magic and the magic of the sword compel Hermione to also grip the hilt. The couple point the sword straight up and declare in a loud voice together, "The King and the Land are One." The Potter's are enveloped in a bright blue/white fire as an eldritch wind blows around them. There is a loud clap of thunder from the static electricity that has built up around the building and then the glow fades away leaving Harry and Hermione standing there with their eyes still glowing as they absorb the power from Excalibur and accepted their new positions in life.

The knight nods in satisfaction that his challenge is met and declares in a loud voice," Long live King Harold and Queen Hermione, Lord Elders, sent by prophecy from the Creator of all things to restore the land to its proper place in the heavens."

As soon as the sword is pulled from the stone every goblin at Gringotts looks towards London and gets down on one knee in supplication. The wizards and witches in the bank stare at the goblins and are startled when they all declare in unison in their deep gravely voices," Long live King Harold and Queen Hermione whom we swear allegiance to for all eternity." Then everything goes back to business as usual.

Albus Dumbledore happens to be at the bank to witness this and with the biggest grin anyone has seen on his face in many years, he shows why he is considered the most powerful mage on the planet when he starts dancing a jig and dissaparates right there in the lobby of the bank back to Hogwarts in a swirl of fire and wind. It's supposed to be impossible to disapperate from the bank at all except for Harry and Hermione who don't dissaperate, but phase, which nothing can stop anyways. He appears at the gates to the school and runs inside noticing the change in the brickwork from stone to marble. He enters the Great Hall to see a new throne with its mate sitting behind his chair with its own table. There is a new standard with the Pendragon crest on it hanging from the wall behind the throne. Minerva McGonagall is walking in the corridor when she hears an old Scottish tune coming from the Great Hall and goes to investigate. When she arrives she spots Albus dancing around the hall with a big grin on his face.

"What are you doing Albus," she laughs delightfully as he grabs her up and swirls her around in celebration.

"My grandchildren have claimed their rightful heritage. They have pulled Excalibur from the stone and we have a new king and queen. That is worth celebrating, dance with me," he asks?

She nods and dances with him as he explains," I knew I had married into the Pendragon line when I young. I was not worthy and could not pull the sword from the stone. My association with Grindlewald tarnished my soul beyond repair until last year when Harry and Hermione triggered the memory block Grindlewald put on me which cleansed my soul allowing me to come clean about my activities and re-bond with Fawkes. Despite what everyone thought, I was not a nice man. I defeated Grindlewald, but the cost was my tarnished soul and my wife's life. I have every right to be proud of my grandchildren, don't you think?"

"Albus, you have two wonderful grandchildren and every reason on earth to be proud of them. I approve of them as well due to their high moral fiber and stability under pressure. You have my vote. Let's dance. This is the most fun I've had in years." She laughs as they continue to dance.

In the Forbidden Forest the centaurs are meeting to decide what to do about the new king and queen.

"It is decided," the chief centaur says," Firenze, you will go to the castle and offer to teach our ways to the young king and queen along with any other student you deem worthy. In this way you can be near, to advise and pass on messages from the herd and for support during the upcoming conflict when the evil one rises again."

Firenze bows his head and stamps his front hooves in approval and runs off to gather his things for the journey to the castle which will take several days from the meeting place.

Back at the P.M.'s office he had just rang off the phone with his agents when it rings again.

"Mr. Blair, we wish to meet our magical counterpart. Please arrange it and contact us when ready. We have hoped for this since we heard the stories as a child and we wish to live out one of our childhood memories." The Queen orders.

"Yes ma'am. They are sitting right here in front of me and I witnessed the whole thing happen just as I had imagined as a child as well. I will ask them straight away." He put the phone on speaker and says," the Queen is listening and would like to meet her magical counterparts."

Harry and Hermione look at each other delighted and ask," we would be delighted to meet her Majesty; when would be convenient?"

"Be here for dinner in the private section at 7:30 this evening and bring the Grangers as we would like to meet our cousins." She commands.

"We will be there at 7:30 sharp. We have a proposal you will absolutely love and we can show you a bit of magic as well." Harry responds.

"We look forward to dinner tonight," she rings off.

Hermione's eyes are glowing in delight and love as she looks at Harry," I've always wanted to meet the Queen. I'm still only twelve years old and this is a fantasy come true for me. I get to meet a real Prince and Princess along with the Queen of all Britania. I'm so excited, what do I wear? I have to fix my hair. I…" Harry interrupts her tirade," You have always been the queen of my heart. Let's go home."

"Oh Harry, you always know what to say. I love you so much," the Prime Minister hears as they fade away back to the Granger's. He chuckles to himself happily for the young couple so obviously in love.

They fade back into view in the sitting room of their home locked at the lips in a deep passionate kiss, oblivious to the rest of the world. After a few minutes of this they hear a cough and a chuckle so they break off the kiss.

"How did the meeting go," Mr. Granger asks?

"Meeting?" Hermione says dreamily with her arms still around Harry," Oh, that."

Then she wakes up to where she is.

"Oh Daddy," she squeals," I've just had my entire little girl fantasies fulfilled. Harry and I are magical King and Queen of all Britania, because he pulled Excalibur from the stone."

Harry holds up the sword for Mr. Granger to inspect where he could see the name etched into the blade.

Jeeves sees the blade and falls to his knees saying," The Elvin nation welcomes the new King and Queen with our full support and services."

Harry looks at Jeeves and says," You are still family as far as we are concerned and we are humbled by your dedication and love."

"Thank you sire," Jeeves says and then goes about his business with his head held high and little more lift in his step.

Hermione looks at her father and asks sweetly," Daddy, guess what?"

"What sweetheart," he answers back, knowing she is about to spring something on him.

"We have a dinner date at 7:30 this evening at the private residence and I have nothing to wear.

Jeeves pops into the sitting room holding two packages he received from Gringotts. He snaps his fingers and the couple is transformed into the perfect fairytale King and Queen. Harry is wearing a white set of dress robes with a red sash and gold trim. The sash includes the Pendragon coat of arms consisting of a golden dragon on a black field with gold trim around the outside in the form of a shield. He has on a black belt with scabbard for Excalibur and highly polished black boots. Hermione is wearing a white Cinderella type dress robe with gold trim and red sash with coat of arms. She has on white shoes trimmed in gold flake. Both have crowns on their heads, his golden while hers is silver.

"These were sent from Gringotts directly from the Pendragon vaults," Jeeves said, "The goblins thought they would be appropriate for your dinner this evening." He snaps his fingers again and the elder Grangers are dressed in silver dress robes with gold trim as befitting the parents of a king and queen.

They sit for a formal photograph taken by Jeeves with a wizard camera for the occasion. At precisely 7:30 Harry pictures the Queen sitting on her throne in the private quarters set up for just such state meetings and sends to her in her mind," We're coming," and the family fades out.

A little earlier that evening:

Like all grandmothers, the queen is no different towards her grandsons in the privacy of their home. She dotes on them, fussing about their formal outfits while they are getting ready for the new visitors.

"Why do we have to get all dressed up grandmother, who's coming," young prince Harry asks?

Prince Charles and Princess Dianna are also listening as they had never seen the queen act like this before.

"You remember the stories I used to tell you about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, along with a magical sword that was pushed into a stone that only the true king of England could remove," she asks?

"Yes, we remember grandmother. Those were just stories though, for little children," answers eight year old Harry," we're not little anymore and don't believe in magic. Do we William?" who shook his head no. Neither boy wanted to seem like they still believed in fairy tales.

"What are you saying mum," Prince Charles wants to know as he is starting to get worried about his mother's sanity.

She looks at her son and says," you will need to know this one day so now is a good time, considering who is coming to dinner this evening. As Queen, I have to know about all of my subjects and it turns out magic is real. By treaty the magical world is kept secret from the normal world and only the P.M. and I know about it and now you do too. Earlier today I was given a message in my mind and they will be here at 7:30 for dinner and a meeting of state, so be on your best behavior for our guests when they arrive. We are to be in the throne room as befitting meeting a head of state."

At 7:30 precisely while the royal family is sitting in the throne room talking quietly, the Queen hears in her mind," we're coming." She immediately sits up in her formal pose, getting everyone's attention. They all feel a small wind start to swirl around the room and a point of light starts to coalesce about ten feet in front of the throne, getting brighter and brighter until everyone has to cover their eyes. When the light dies down to a normal level there stand four people where none stood before. The young King and Queen in the front stand there in the full regalia of the Pendragon line, golden crown and silver tiara, their eyes glowing with a fierce blue/white fire of obvious power with an eldritch wind blowing around them. The two older people in the back stand tall and proud behind their children. Harry and Hermione allow their eyes to go back to normal and give a slight bow and curtsy as befitting equals. "Rise and approach the throne," the Queen commands.

"Harry and Hermione straighten up and Harry says by way of introduction," I am King Harold James Pendragon and this lovely lady is my soul mate and wife of four years Queen Hermione Jane Pendragon nee Granger."

He pulls Excalibur from its scabbard and says formally," We offer Excalibur in defense of the realm in allegiance with Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of all Britania."

"We accept allegiance with King Harold and Queen Hermione, magical king and queen of all Britania. May our alliance last until eternity," the Queen says formally. A white light surrounds all parties as the magical oath takes place. The queen relaxes once the formalities are over with and looks over at her grandsons and smiles. They smile right back at her.

"Let's retire to the dining room for dinner, shall we?" she says, standing up from her throne and leading the way," You haven't introduced your parent's yet young man."

"Sorry ma'am got caught up in the moment. This is Dr. George and Dr. Helen Granger. The best parents in the world we could have asked for." Harry states while Hermione just gives him a hug for that statement. _"I'll reward you for that later," _she thinks to Harry.

"_It's just the truth, Hermione,"_ Harry thinks back to her.

The Queen is a shrewd observer and could see they are talking to each other in their heads and that they are very much in love.

They retire to the dining room and have a nice meal with the adults drinking wine and the children soft drinks. After dinner the men and women separate as they are wont to do at small gatherings.

"Tell me about that young man of yours," the Queen asks Hermione.

"Harry?" she gets a dreamy look in her eyes," My Harry is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He's my soul mate you know; we were bonded at eight years old in what non magical people call a marriage made in heaven, only in our world it is real. We own Camelot castle, what is now called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," As she says this she casually waves her hand and a painting appears of the school and Sir Lancelot on an easel next to where they are sitting. She looks over at the painting and says," How are you sir knight?"

"I am well your majesty, thank you for asking," he looks over at the queen and gives a small bow of respect," I am sir Lancelot at your service. I can be a go between for you and your prime minister. Best let King Harry handle the magical wizengamot and mister of magic. It will be easier on all around. All you have to do is call out when you are alone. If I am not at other duties I would be happy to tell you all about Arthur and Camelot as I was his champion." He puts his helmet back on and rides off to the other painting in the P.M.s office.

"Where did he go," the Queen asks?

"I think he went back to the P.M's office where his other painting is," Hermione responds," anyway, back to my Harry. When we arrived at the school the first time we found out we also owned one hundred eighteen house elves which are the castle staff. He immediately freed them as we neither one of us believe in slavery. House elves require bonding with a wizard to keep their magic so we bonded with them as family. Harry has never raised his voice in anger and has been by my side and I by his in all things. We share everything unconditionally as part of our soul bond."

Over on the men's side of the room Duke Philip is observing Excalibur," Fine blade you have here young man. You seem to be a bit distracted."

"Sorry sir, I was watching Hermione. She is definitely in her element when it comes to girl talk. She seems to fit right in, even here," he responds.

"Been a normal thing for the ladies since time began. By the way, can we keep that painting she made appear out of the air," he asks?

Harry looks over at the painting and conjures a frame for it and asks," where would you like to hang it. I would suggest somewhere out of the public eye as it is a magical painting and will allow you to send messages to your P.M. whenever he is alone."

"I'll think of someplace while taking your advice," the Duke responds.

Harry looks over at Hermione and she looks up and they nod at each other.

He walks over to her and takes her hand where they move to the center of the room," We have one more secret to share along with the offer we mentioned on the phone earlier."

Harry looks over at Hermione and says," Ready Huntress?"

She nods back and says," Ready Hunter."

With everyone watching, the pair morph into their Panthera's personas and float up about two feet off the floor.

"We are the Panthera's, Hunters of truth and justice," They say in unison," We are Elders immortal, sent from the stars as guardians to save earth from itself and to eventually bring it into the Galactic Community of Planets."

They morph back into themselves and settle back onto the floor.

The Queen claps with a big smile, while the boys say,"Cooool."

"The Panthera's are our public personas so we can do what we were sent here for and still have private lives," Harry says.

"I've wanted to meet you ever since I saw the news earlier this summer." The Queen says," You said you have an offer?"

"Yes your majesty, we want to offer you the same protection we are giving our parents from hostile magicals." He waves his hand and six watches appear on the table in front of them. If you will look closely you will see that on the outside they look like ordinary high quality Rolex watches. Push this button here however and the face opens up revealing an extra set of hands. You will notice each hand has a name on it that corresponds to a member of the family. This will allow everyone to keep track of everyone else. Instead of time, you will see the hands all point to home at this time because that is where you are. The other stops are Work, School, Traveling or Mortal Danger. The watches will not protect you from someone with a gun but do have built in port keys that will bring you safely here if you are attacked by terrorists."

"Pardon me for interrupting your majesty but what can a wizard do that would require these watches," Princess Dianna asks?

Faster than anyone except Hermione could follow, Harry pulls his wand from his sleeve and points it at a suit of armor in the corner and yells," BOMBARDA" The armor explodes into a thousand tiny pieces leaving a hole in the floor.

Dianna immediately picks up two of the watches and puts them on her boy's arms. The others follow suit while Hermione waves her hand at the corner of the room, repairing all of the damage.

"There are wizards and witches out there that believe ordinary humans are nothing more than animals. The ignorance of arrogance. The lifespan of a wizard or witch with a strong magical core is about two hundred years. Because of our long life spans, change comes slowly in the magical world. Normal humans are about two hundred years ahead of us in technology. Hermione and I are trying to change that through our school but it will take time."

"Princess Dianna," Harry says," if you will allow me, I will take you somewhere else to show you how the port key works."

She nods and Harry touches her arm and they fade away to the Granger home.

"Where did they go," Prince Charles asks?

"Harry took her to our home. Here they come now," Hermione says.

They appear in a flash of light where Dianna stumbles on landing.

"Be sure and kick your legs like you are walking when using a port key. The landing takes a bit of practice." Harry says by way of instruction.

She kisses him on the cheek and says," Thank you," then walks over to Charles and sits next to him content.

"Any questions?" Harry asks, when everyone shakes no he continues," good, the P.M. knows where we live. We will leave contact information with him for national emergencies while we are in school. We are going home now as we have long day of school shopping ahead of us tomorrow. It has been a pleasure meeting you and your family your majesty."

"The pleasure has been all mine your majesty, have a pleasant evening." the Queen responds.

The visitors fade away back to the Grangers house where the children have to be carried to bed as they are already asleep in their parent's arms.

Later that evening as the grandmother helps tuck her grandchildren in bed and gives them a kiss, young Harry says," Thanks grandmother, we believe in magic now."

"You're welcome, good night boys," she says.


	4. Diagon Alley, The Express, DADA Class

**Chapter 19: Diagon Alley, A Trip to school, The First class of Second Year**

It's been a long and fruitful summer and as all things must come to an end, it is time to go back to school.

It is decided to leave the Pendragon name out of their day to day dealings until they are old enough to vote unless an emergency comes up requiring it.

Towards the end of August the Grangers and Potters go to Diagon Alley for school supplies and run into the Weasley family at Flourish and Blotts book store where a book signing is going on.

"Will you look at the crowd," Mr. Granger says.

There is a sign in front of the book shop proclaiming Gilderoy Lockhart is in attendance to sign his new book "Magical Me" and the crowd is lined up out the door.

"Let's just go in and get our books," Harry says," I would rather not get caught up with the useless ponce inside. He somehow finagled a contract with the school to have all of his books be the texts for the defense classes this year. I've read some of them and they are contradictory to each other with timelines overlapping, along with him claiming to do things that are impossible; even for us."

They go in the store to start browsing around for some books when Harry gets spotted by the ponce, who grabs him by the arm to drag him up to the front of the store.

"Look who we have here, someone almost as famous as me; Harry Potter," Lockhart proclaims loudly.

"So much for staying in the background," Harry mutters. While Hermione giggles at Harry's discomfort, she stays right by his side as he gets dragged up front.

"What a privilege Harry Potter must feel to be here in my presence. I'll bet he didn't know when came to see me that I would be giving him a complete set of my books including the new 'Magical Me'," Lockhart preens milking the crowd for all it's worth," As a matter of fact, I have an announcement to make. I, Gilderoy Lockhart, am going to be the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher this year at Hogwarts."

All the girls just swoon and scream at the news and have eyes only for the blond ponce as he poses for pictures with Harry. You can hear all of the ahhs going around from the love sick crowd of females. Hermione just rolls her eyes while keeping a watch on the crowd for any threats.

Harry finally breaks away with his hands full of books from the ponce when he spots young Ginny Weasley struggling with her caldron. He walks up to her and with a wave of his hand her caldron grows light as a feather, ending her struggles.

"Thank you kind sir," She squeaks in awe of Harry.

"You are most welcome. As a matter of fact, you take these as I don't need them. I already have a set," he says as he deposits the books in her caldron. She smiles happily back at him.

"Bet you enjoyed that Potter," Ron Weasley says snidely.

"What are you on about Mr. Weasley," Harry asks?

"All the attention and fame. I bet it makes you feel real big," he sneers.

"I'll tell you what Mr. Weasley. Why don't we get a dark lord to come and kill off all of your family and try to kill you and fail? Then see how you like being famous for losing everything you ever had. I have no Parents or family of my own and if it weren't for the Grangers and Hermione I'd probably be just as miserable as you. You don't know how blessed you are to have a large family. If you want fame and fortune then get off your lazy rear end and earn it. I had the hat put you in Slytherin to teach you how to get the things in life you want through cunning and ambition. It is up to you to make it happen. Nothing is free in this world. Look at your parents; your father works very hard at the ministry to support you and pay for your schooling, while your mother works hard around the house mending your clothes, making sure the garden grows well so you have food on the table and she loves you with everything she has. I would feel privileged to be part of such a large and loving family as you have. Hermione and I were only children until we turned eight and until we met each other we had no friends and were very lonely. At least she had her parents. I just don't understand you Ron Weasley. You just don't know how lucky you are." Harry finishes, with Hermione holding onto him as if her life depended on it, tears in her eyes.

Mrs. Weasley comes up to Harry and Hermione and encompasses them in a big hug and says," Thank you for those kind words Lord Potter. I've been trying to tell him the same thing for years. He thinks because his older brothers have done so well there is nothing left for him."

Harry looks at her and says," I would love to have had older brothers to look up to and to have as role models. It would just make me want to work all the harder to live up to, and be like them to earn their respect."

Harry looks over at Ron and says, "That is what family is all about, Ron. Look to your brothers for inspiration and give your little sister someone to look up to as well. Make Slytherin house proud by outshining all of them. Study hard and maybe you will make head boy like your oldest brother and give your whole family someone to be proud of and brag about."

"You should listen to him Ron, he obviously knows what he is talking about," Ginny says," I love you despite your bad habits and things. You are my big brother and I want you to do good."

Ron looks down at his shoes all red in the face as he thinks about what was said.

"Alright, Harry, I will think about what you said. I will probably need help studying to get started since I can't do it on my own very well." Ron says looking up, "Will you help me?"

"Of course we will help you. That is what school is for. You can join our study group and we will show you how to do research and how to write essays and everything. If you will meet us half way and try; I think you will be surprised at how easy school work will get. You will feel good about yourself when you get good grades and will want to brag to your parents about it," Hermione says," we always have room for good friends."

"That goes the same for you as well Ginny," Harry says, "bring any friends along you might have."

"Thanks Harry," She says shyly, "I think I will ask Luna if she will come."

"Okay, we will join up at platform nine and three quarters on September first and get to know you and your friend better," Hermione says.

Unbeknownst to the group, while all the discussion was going on, Lucius Malfoy snuck the diary into Ginny's cauldron when no one was looking.

After they finish paying for their books the family continues on to the rest of the shops, purchasing their supplies for the upcoming year at Hogwarts. When they are done they stop for dinner at a nice restaurant before going home.

On September first everyone gets up, excited and sad about going back to school. The kids are excited to be going and sad because they will miss their parents while they are at school. After a delicious breakfast, they load up the Rolls and Jeeves drives them to King's Cross station to catch the train to school. When they arrive at the station, the kids load their trunks onto trollies and proceed through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters where they run into their friends. After hugs and kisses all around, everyone boards the train for the trip to school. Harry and Hermione lead the way and find an empty compartment near the end of the train. With a wave of his hand, he expands the compartment to accommodate the group expected to show up.

The first one to enter the compartment is Neville, followed by Hannah and Susan.

"Hi guys," Harry says by way of greeting," I've invited a few other students to join our group this year. The first will be Ron Weasley as we had a long talk this summer and he asked for our help to learn how to study properly to improve his grades. Along with Ron, I invited a couple of first years as well. One of them is Ron's little sister, Ginny and her friend Luna. Not sure what her last name is."

"That would be Luna Lovegood. Her mother was killed in an accident a couple of years ago when a spell she was developing backfired," Neville says," The Lovegoods are good people."

"We have something in common then," Harry replies.

There comes a knock on the door, which is opens to reveal the three persons being talked about.

Harry stands up and says, "Everyone knows Ron already and I would like to introduce Ginny Weasley and I presume, Luna Lovegood?"

She nods and curtseys to the Potters and says with a dreamy expression," And you are Harry and Hermione Potter; The Elders of the Universe. I knew you would come in our time of need."

Everyone in the compartment is staring at the Potters wide eyed as they realize the legend is true. There is no way the group could mistake the sincerity in Luna's voice, or her actions when she saw them.

"Hello Luna," Hermione says," welcome to our group. We try not to spread around too much what we are."

"Why didn't you tell us," Hannah exclaims," I just knew there were something special about you two from the way you acted all last year. But nothing like this."

"We didn't keep what we are from people intentionally; it came out a few times, but we generally don't spread it around," Harry says," What do you mean by the way we acted last year, Hannah?"

"Well, you never raised your voice in anger except once to Draco, and even then it wasn't by much. Even in professor Snape's class that first day when he was so mean to you; you just handled him calmly and took control of the situation. Also the powers you seem to have, like phasing and walking on air," she says, counting on her fingers," there is just so much more to you than meets the eye."

"We're still just Harry and Hermione inside. Please don't be afraid of us; we just want to be friends with everyone." Harry begs.

"Friends," Luna whispers," I would love to have friends."

"Well, we consider you our friend, Luna, you too Ginny," Hermione says.

Just then, there is another knock on the door and Draco sticks his head in and asks," May I join you?"

"Of course, Draco, come on in and make yourself comfortable," Harry says," We were just getting ready to discuss how our study group works to Ginny and Luna so we can help them this year. Would you like to join as well?"

"That would be lovely," Draco replies," By the way, my name is now Draco Black, my mother's divorce went through this summer and she got her dowry back. Please thank the Hunters when you see them again Harry."

"I will pass on the message," Harry responds with a nod.

"Speaking of messages, we got one from Dobby this summer. How is he doing now?" Hermione asks cryptically, looking Draco directly in the eyes.

"Oh he's a changed person since he met you. Had a growth spurt too; didn't know elves did that." He says right back at her.

Hermione sits back with a satisfied smile on her face," Welcome to our group, Draco, you will fit right in."

The snack lady comes by with her cart full of sweets and Harry buys some for the group to have for desert after lunch. Everyone sits and catches up for an hour about what they did during summer vacation until lunch is announced. After they eat a hardy lunch brought by Hermione, along with the sweets from the cart and everyone's appetite is satisfied, they get down to the business of organizing the study group.

"That ponce, Lockhart is going to be our Defense professor this year so we won't learn anything in that class. I took the liberty of getting some real defense books that we can learn from," Harry says, passing out the books to everyone," We will do our studying in the library or great hall, whichever is best at the time. We can find a classroom for practicing the spells. Depending on which house our two first years get sorted in, we have the potential to have all four houses in our group. Mine and Hermione's goal is to get all the houses to unite into one school without infighting between houses."

"That's a lofty goal," Draco says," There are a lot of pure-blood morons in Slytherin House that will fight you on this."

"I know, I already started with Pansy Parkinson last year and I hope she has spread the word amongst all of her friends about us," Harry says," It will be a slow and painful process for some to learn the lesson, but we have to start somewhere."

"Good luck with that and I will help where I can," Draco says.

"Thanks Draco," Harry says," Anymore questions?"

After everyone shakes their heads no, Harry says," Ok, we are almost there; it's time to change into robes. Girls first."

The boys go out into the hall to stand guard while the girls change and then they switch with the girls guarding while the boys change. All in all; a smooth operation.

When the train arrives at Hogsmead Station, the group gets off with the first years going on the boats while the second years walk to the carriages. Harry and Hermione look at the creatures pulling the carriages, studying them with great interest.

"Have you seen anything like that Hermione?" Harry asks.

"No I haven't," Hermione says," From pictures in a book I read, I think they are called Thestrals. You are supposed to only be able to see them if you have seen death."

Realizing what she just said, she grabs onto Harry's arm and holds him tight," Oh, Harry, you witnessed your mother's death; and so have I; through your memories. Sometimes these probes we carry can be a pain, making us remember something like that."

"That's what makes us who we are, Hermione," Harry says." The fact that we are made to remember things like that make them a thing to be avoided. So far we have not been required to kill and if we can get rid of Voldemort by capturing him in stasis or something; that is what we will do."

"I love you even more when you say things like that," She says," That just confirms I am your partner in everything we do."

"Of course you are my partner," he says, looking her in the eyes," Together forever and ever, remember?"

"Together forever," she whispers, and then she pulls his face down and kisses him for all she is worth after he says that. The others in the carriage are a little embarrassed by the show, but agree with what he said.

When they arrive at the castle the group emerges from the carriage and all go to sit at their respective tables for the sorting.

As the Potters walk through the doors the castle thinks in their heads," _Welcome home Elders."_

"_Thanks, It's good to be back,"_ Harry and Hermione think back in unison.

"_Thanks for hiding the Pendragon standard. We're not quite ready for the public spectacle that goes with being King and Queen."_ Harry thinks to the hat.

After everyone is seated, Mrs. McGonagall leads the first years in to be sorted. The hat is sitting on the stool, patiently waiting for everyone to get still as he prepares to sing:

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty

Sitting here all thread worn and frilly

After one thousand years

From the Founders joy and tears

...

I was made to sort first years

Just put me on above your ears

I will sift through your thoughts and fears

To determine who will be your peers

...

Will it be Gryffindor House

For the courageous and the brave

Where leadership is born

And the Lion's roar

...

Will it be Ravenclaw House

For the studious and smart

Where the scholars reside

And the Eagles fly

...

Will it be Hufflepuff House

For the loyal and hard workers

Where there is backbone

And is the fierce Badgers home

...

Will it be Slytherin House

For the ambitious and cunning

Where the shrewd and intuitive live

And the mighty Serpents coil

...

Be not afraid

Of the decision to be made

For the Elders of old

Are back now in the fold

...

To protect and defend

Those that are within

These hallowed halls

And sacred old walls

...

Come forward

One by one

Put me on and see

Which house is yours to be"

...

The hat goes quiet and everyone stands and cheers while whispering amongst themselves, wondering who the hat is talking about. Who are the Elders? Only a few people know and Pansy Parkinson is one of them. She sits at her table with a smile on her face, knowing from experience how safe she is here. Little did she know events are about to unfold that will get everyone wondering about how safe it truly is in the wizarding world and Hogwarts in particular.

Mrs. McGonagall calls up the first student and the sorting begins. The hat consults several times with the Potters but the sorting goes smoothly with Luna Lovegood going into Ravenclaw and Ginny Weasley getting into Gryffindor with her older brothers. Professor Dumbledore stands up, claps his hands twice, and the feast appears on all the tables to the astonishment of the first years and the contentment of the rest.

After the feast is over the Headmaster walks up to the lectern and raises himself up a few inches so everyone can see him. The hall gets quiet in anticipation of his speech.

"Welcome to Hogwarts first years and welcome back to everyone else. I hope your summers went well and you are now sufficiently empty headed so we can fill them back up again with knowledge and wisdom. As we seem to do every year, we have a new Defense against the Dark Arts professor. May I introduce you to Gilderoy Lockhart." He says, waving his right arm towards said person.

Lockhart stands and waves with a big toothy smile and sits back down. She girls all sigh with dreamy looks on their faces. Harry and Hermione roll their eyes in exasperation and just shake their heads. Most of the guys wonder what the girls even see in the blond haired idiot. Maybe it's the way he combs his hair or something.

The Headmaster continues," The Forbidden Forest is off limits, as usual, except to apprentices and their masters. Mr. Filch has put a list of forbidden items on his door if you are interested. No magic is allowed in the halls and Hogsmead weekends will be starting in October for third years and up. Schedules will be given out at breakfast in the morning so don't be late. Prefects, if you will gather the first years for your house and escort them to your common rooms now, I will bid you good night."

Everyone gets up to go to their common rooms to retire for the night with the prefects leading the first years who are looking everywhere trying to see everything at once.

Harry looks at Hermione and says," Lets tell grandpa about the warning so he can keep a watch as well."

She nods at him and they walk up to the head table.

"Headmaster," Harry asks?

"Yes Harry my boy?" He responds?

"May we meet with you and the council for a few minutes this evening before you retire," Harry asks?

"Certainly, I will gather the others and meet you there," He says.

The couple walks toward the entrance to the Headmasters office where the gargoyle moves aside as they approach, allowing them entrance without a password.

After everyone is seated Harry stands and says," I won't keep you as I know everyone is tired. This summer I got a visit from Dobby, Draco's elf friend. He told me that he had gone back to Malfoy Manor to retrieve his friend's things when he overheard Mr. Malfoy plotting to slip a dark artifact to one of the students to cause what he called a purge of all the half-bloods and mud-bloods from the school. The artifact is supposed to be a cursed diary so we might not see the artifact itself. We need to be on the lookout for any unusual behavior from one of the students. I'm not sure what would be needed to accomplish what he said. As far as I know Hermione and I are impervious to any harm so if you hear of anything let us investigate for your safety. Headmaster, you can use the school portraits to help keep an eye on the children and we will stay in contact with Hogwarts. That was all I had. Let's keep a lookout and stay vigilant. Also, I wanted to thank you for volunteering your time this summer and there will be a bonus in your next pay voucher."

Everyone looked pleased with this news. It sure was a pleasure working for the Potters. They knew how to treat their employees.

"Thank you for informing us Harry," Albus says," we will keep an eye out. Best get on to bed now. See you at breakfast."

"Goodnight Grandpa," Hermione says, yawning real wide.

After the couple leaves Albus sighs and says," So much for a worry free year. Set up whatever protections you can for your houses and keep an eye out. If it **is** a diary, it may take a while to figure out who might have it. Report to the Potters anything suspicious and they can use their unique magic to sort it out. Have a good evening every one and I will see you at breakfast."

They all get up to go to their quarters for a good night's sleep as they all have a very busy day ahead of them tomorrow.

The Potters walk to their common room and the door opens on their approach, the same as the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office.

"Looks like we are getting first class service this year Hermione," Harry grins.

"Sure looks that way," Hermione answers," Let's get some sleep, I'm knackered."

They go to their room door and enter their suite, finding Tippy and Dippy there waiting on them. Seeing how tired the Potter are the elves look at each other and smile snapping their fingers changing the Potters into pajamas and putting them to bed where they fall instantly asleep.

The next morning Harry and Hermione wake up and see their things laid out for them, so they shower and get ready to go down for breakfast.

They go to their table for breakfast where Madam Sprout hands their schedules to them. They are soon joined by the rest of the gang from Hufflepuff where they compare schedules so they can set times for the study group to get together. The group is started by a bright flash and turn around to find a first year with a camera standing behind them.

"You should ask before you take a picture of someone." Harry says," What's your name?"

"Collin, Collin Creevey," the first yeast exclaims, excited to talk to his hero.

"Well, Collin, Collin Creevey, I will make a deal with you. You put your academics first. Good grades in class are a must for this deal. Second, go around the castle and grounds and practice with your camera. No people shots, only scenery. After a month if you start to show any talent I will allow you to occasionally take a picture of one of our group. If you become good enough I will hire you as an official photographer for the school." Harry proposes.

Collin looks at Harry with a big smile and says," Deal." He reaches out and they shake hands on it to seal the deal.

"You're a good person, Harry Potter," Harry hears from a small voice next to him.

He turns and smiles at the person and greets," Good morning Luna, I see you have your schedule, won't you join us for breakfast?"

"I'd love to," she sits with the group and they discuss where and when to start their study group.

"Looks like we have the blonde idiot for defense this morning," Harry says to his second year group," at least you first years get to wait a few days. Just remember what I said about his books. They are inconsistent and should be taken with a large dose of salt."

The following is a retelling of what happened in Second year Defense Against the Dark Arts class as told by witnesses which spread around the school faster than you could say quidditch:

After arriving in the classroom everyone takes their seats with the Potters sitting near the middle of the class. The class of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs at least get along with each other. Mr. Lockhart comes out of his office wearing ridiculously bright purple robes and after giving a speech about some smiley award he won he passes out a test to see who has read his new book "Magical me". The Potters must have photographic memories, because they are the only ones who aced the test. Unfortunately for them, passing the test had the unfortunate side effect of drawing attention to them from Lockhart who praises Harry and Hermione as the only ones to get it right that his favorite color is Lilac; of all the stupid things to put on a test. The pair just rolled their eyes and shook their heads. After the test is over he sets a covered cage on a table proclaiming it contains dangerous creatures and proceeds to uncover a cage of bright blue Cornish Pixies. Someone comments they looked like Smurfs with wings. (Whatever Smurfs are.) His proclamation causes Seamus Finnigan to laugh after he sees what's in the cage as Cornish Pixies aren't dangerous per say. They are mischievous and like to cause chaos and havoc. Get a bunch of them together and it can really get bad. Lockhart the ponce tries several times to open the cage with his wand using magic but can never seem to get his spell right. All he manages to do is rattle the cage which agitates the pixies. One of the pixies reaches through the bars and unlocks the cage from the outside by turning the key that is in the lock. Apparently Lockhart couldn't even do that. The door opens, allowing all of the pixies to fly out on their own, causing mayhem in the room, even hanging poor Neville Longbottom from the overhead chandelier. Lockhart tries once again to use a spell to contain the pixies, which of course fails, and then they steal his wand from him, throwing it out the window. Lockhart runs with his hands over his head in freight to his office to hide, while saying he'll just leave the cleanup to the class at which point Hermione gets fed up and points her wand into the midst of the pixies and yells,"Imobulus," freezing all the pixies. She then orders them all back into their cage. The pixies all salute Hermione and form a cue and march two by two back into the cage. It was reported that the pixies were marching to the theme from the movie The Great Escape. (What's a movie?) Harry then picks up the cage and disappears for a few seconds and reappears with an empty cage. He must have taken them out to the forest to free them. That would be just like the Potters. They are so nice to everybody and everything. So much for the Great Gilderoy Lockhart's first defense class.


	5. The Chamber is Opened and On Patrol

**Chapter 20: The Chamber is Opened and on Patrol**

A few days later Harry and Hermione are on the way to Herbology class when they notice Lockhart exit from the main doors to the greenhouse classroom section with bandages all over his face. He spots Harry, while ignoring Hermione, and tries to give him a lecture on how to be famous, saying that he should especially wait until he is older, so Harry's fame could catch up to his, Gilderoy Lockharts, then they could be famous together. Harry just gives him a look that says to go away and walks away from him.

Harry approaches Madam Sprout and asks," What happened to him?"

"Someone stole a flying car and thought they could sneak into the school. They managed to crash the car into the Whomping Willow. Lockhart thought it would be a good idea to teach me, of all people, how to repair the tree. Idiot. Never did find the incompetent car flyer." She grumbles.

"Is the tree ok," Hermione asks?

"No thanks to him, took forever to calm it down again after he started on it. But I got it all patched up again, Good as new." She declares proudly.

"You're a good Herbologist, Professor. I'm sure the willow welcomed your ministrations. Let's get class started." Harry says.

"Yes sir," she responds and after a short lesson about the Whomping Willow and how not to treat it she moves on to the regular lesson for the day which was all about re-potting Mandrakes.

On the way back from class they notice Hagrid carrying some dead roosters up towards the castle.

"What happened to the roosters, Hagrid," Hermione asks?

"Dun know, Found em this way this morning. Cages were all torn up too. Suspect we got a loose Fox around sumwhere. Gonna ask permission to get some more," he answers.

"Go ahead Hagrid, "Harry says," You have my permission to acquire more roosters and whatever you need to build stronger cages. I'll clear it with the Headmaster."

"Thank ye Harry, yer a good man." Hagrid responds.

That evening, as they are patrolling the second floor hallway near the girl's bathroom, they hear a voice coming from somewhere," **Kill, maim; dessstroy. So hungry.**"

They look at each other and start running down the hall trying to follow the voice which is moving off towards one of the bathrooms. When they round one of the many corners they come to a complete halt and stare at the wall in front of them. There, on the wall, are words written apparently in blood.

**THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE** (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, HK Rowling)

Hermione then spots Mrs. Norris hanging from a wall sconce.

"I'll get Mr. Filch," Harry says running down a floor to the caretaker's office. When he arrives he knocks on the door which Mr. Filch answers, surprised anyone would even knock on his door.

"You better come with me," Harry says seriously," something has happened to Mrs. Norris."

They both run back up to the second floor where they find the Headmaster examining Mrs. Norris. To the Potters and Mr. Filches relief the Headmaster finds she is only petrified and can be restored with the correct potion.

Harry looks over at Mr. Filch and says," You perform an invaluable service to this school. I'll authorize whatever it takes to get her cured."

Mr. Filch looks at Harry gratefully and says," Thank you sir, "Yer a good kid."

"Least I could do for one of the best familiars in the school." Harry responds.

Mr. Filch smiles at Harry, feeling a lot better.

Hermione kisses Harry on the cheek and says," That will earn you a snog session later. Poor Mrs. Norris."

"I think I know what happened to Hagrid's roosters," Harry states looking again at the words on the wall. Someone read the words loudly and then yells out snidely," better watch out mudbloods. The heir will make sure you are next."

Hermione turns toward the crowd where there is a lot of mumbling about what was just said.

"I am the magical and blood Heir to Salazar Slytherin and he would never have done anything like this. He would never let this kind of danger into his school full of children. He wasn't anti muggle born like you purebloods think. He thought they should be brought to school earlier than purebloods so they could get a head start on their education since they didn't grow up with magic like the purebloods. In fact, he made frequent trips for such a purpose. He was killed in a riding accident on one such trip when his horse found a fox den entrance. There never was a falling out between the founders," She waves her hand at the words on the wall which fade away leaving a clean wall behind," All of this was done by an individual with a sick disposition. My **grandfather** wouldn't have condoned it and neither do **I**."

She then notices the water on the floor and with another wave of her hand the water is cleaned up as well, which gives her the germ of an idea about what might have happened.

"Thank you for that Mrs. Potter," Mr. Filch says, glad he didn't have to clean it up.

"You're welcome Mr. Filch. No reason for you to have to clean up after Myrtle. I'll try talking to her again about flooding the floor so much." Hermione says. After thinking a few minutes she conjures a new device Mr. Filch has never seen before. It has a long handle like a broom and a horizontal board across the bottom with a rubber strip sticking down.

She hands this to Mr. Filch and says," This is called a squeegee. What it does is allows you to push the water along the floor until you can push it down the drain. Muggles use it instead of a mop when they want to clean large areas at once. It should save you considerable time if Myrtle floods the floor again. I made the rubber strip so it wouldn't wear out. You're a good man Mr. Filch. I hope this will make your job a bit easier."

"Thank you ma'am." He says taking the squeegee from her hand." Looks strange but if the muggles can do it so can I."

Lockhart shows up towards the end of the investigation with a large smile on his face now that the danger is over.

"It's obvious that cat's been petrified. I could have saved it had I known." he says pompously," A good mandake draught will be the cure. I can brew one up in my sleep. I'll have her fixed up in no time."

The fact he is smiling so much and his use of short sentences convince even the first years present that he doesn't know what he is doing.

"Excuse me professor," Harry interrupts, to keep the ponce quiet," I believe I will put my trust in our resident potions master, Professor Snape to make the draught. We just had a class on mandrakes so it will be just a matter of time till they're ready."

"Besides," Harry grumbles under his breath while standing next to Professor Snape, "I don't want him within ten feet of a cauldron. I like our school and want it in one piece."

Snape chuckles and says back under his breath," I agree. I like working here and if anyone could blow the place up purely by ignorance it would be him."

No one seemed to notice little Ginny Weasley watching from down the hall. Her face would go from relieved to frustrated, as if she was fighting an internal battle with herself. Finally it took on a neutral expression and she walked away.

Classes resume the next day and things run smoothly with no more incidents. The Halloween Holiday comes and goes with Harry and Hermione paying tribute to Harry's parents and Nearly Headless Nick having his five hundredth death day celebration down in the dungeons.

The weekend after the holiday Harry and Hermione are sitting in their room studying when Harry asks," You think we should start patrolling the area around Hogwarts? Maybe we can spot what is happening to the roosters again. Despite the stronger cages they are starting to disappear again."

"That a good idea Harry. Let's get our cloaks and use the astronomy tower as a starting point. They gather their cloaks and climb the stairs to the astronomy tower and after disillusioning themselves, take off. After a pass around the immediate castle grounds without spotting anything they drift off over the forest. A short way in, they spot Luna standing near the herd of Thestrals barefoot so they decide to land and investigate. After landing a short way off, the couple re-illusions themselves and then walks over to stand next to Luna, who says," Oh, hello Elders, nice day for a flight. I was just out here feeding the Thestrals. They like it when I bring fresh meat from the kitchens."

"Hello Luna, You know it is not safe out here for humans," Harry says.

"I'm okay, Hagrid watches over me and as long as I stay around here I'm safe enough," she responds.

"Where are your shoes and cloak, Luna?" Hermione asks," It's too cold to go barefoot out here."

She gets a sad look on her face and says," The other girls in my tower think it is fun to borrow my things. They eventually get returned so I don't bother with reporting it. It would just make things worse with the older girls."

"That is unacceptable," Hermione says while conjuring some shoes, socks and a cloak for her," Harry and I will talk to them about it and it will stop. No one treats our friend like this."

Luna gets tears in her eyes as she puts on the socks and shoes and gives each one of them a hug," I like having friends."

"Well, you have a friend for life with us Luna. We know there is nothing wrong with you like other people say. You have a very high IQ, which is why you got into Ravenclaw. You are smarter than most of the other students in your house and I think they are just jealous of how much you outshine them. We will fix the bullying. We have to go now so please return to the castle before dark for your safety." Harry says as he casts a warming charm on her to make her comfortable.

After they leave she breaks down crying in relief that she has someone on her side when one of the thestrals walks over to her and starts to lick the tears from her face. She looks up at the animal and smiles while she pets the thestral on the nose.

"Poor Luna, we will have to take care of that as soon as we return," Hermione says.

"We will, I don't like bullies and we will try to make them understand her situation and leave her alone." Harry responds.

As they are flying along the couple spot movement in the trees off to the right. They fly closer and a large spider tries to jump out of a tree top to grab them which is easily avoided.

"I wonder where they came from," Hermione asks," I didn't know the forest had a colony of Spiders. That should not be natural this far north."

"I don't know, we will have to ask Hagrid," Harry says," He seems to know everything about the forest. Let's head back, I don't see anything else out here."

They reverse course and turn around to fly back toward the castle when they spot a campfire off in the distance. Flying over to the fire, they see a centaur making camp and decide to stop and talk to the centaur. Landing a little bit away so as not to alarm the centaur the Potters make their way toward the camp. The couple is being observed by other centaurs in the area and one of them shoots a warning arrow toward them which Hermione casually reaches out and snatches out of the air. This act impresses the centaurs who gather around to see who is in their forest.

Firenze watches as they walk into the camp and says," That was very impressive Elder. Not many can accomplish that. Hermione looks around and sees Ronan standing there looking proud and a little agitated his arrow was caught so easily.

She hands him his arrow and says in perfect centaur speech," Stand down mighty warrior. There is no one on this planet that can beat us in speed and agility. Those are just a couple of our abilities. We have need of brave warriors such as yourself."

"You honor us with our tongue your majesty, what need have you of us," Ronan asks?

"We only ask that you do what you normally do and patrol the forest around the school to make sure the children stay out and hostiles stay away. We can offer an alliance to the Pendragon line to help and support your herd in times of need." Harry states.

"That is acceptable," Ronan says," we have orders from our chief to offer support in return, along with Firenze teaching your majesties and any other student he deems worthy our ways of life."

"You are welcome at the castle and I will announce you when you are ready." Harry responds formally.

"We should be there in a few days, your majesty, have a pleasant journey back," Ronan says and then trots away to resume his patrol.

The two take to the air and return to the castle to talk to the students in Ravenclaw tower.

As soon as they land they return their cloaks to their rooms and seek out professor Flitwick.

"We need you to come with us sir. We are going to straighten out a bullying problem we just discovered in your house. We need a witness and want you to follow us disillusioned so the students don't know you are there." Harry states.

"Yes sir," He says while disillusioning himself to follow the Potters.

They make their way to Ravenclaw tower where with a wave of his hand the door opens to allow them entry.

"May I have your attention please," Harry calls out getting everyone's attention," I want all Ravenclaw students in the common room in five minutes. No exceptions."

They knew he was serious about something so they sent runners to get everyone not already in the tower. When everyone is gathered Harry continues.

"I have a single question. Why is Luna Lovegood's things being borrowed without permission and only returned several days later?"

"Because she's looney, spaced out all the time," someone says from the back," everyone calls her looney Lovegood."

"Let me ask you another question," Harry says," does anyone in here know what a thestral is?"

Some of the older students raise their hands.

"Can any of you see them," Harry asks," I have a good reason for asking."

No one raised their hands this time.

"You're lucky," Harry says," Luna **can** see them and we found her in the forest feeding them while barefoot with no cloak on. For those of you who don't know, thestrals can only be seen by someone who has seen death. Luna witnessed her mother die right in front of her when a new spell she was developing backfired. She was nine years old. She has an IQ of nearly two hundred which makes her a genius of high caliber. She uses her dreamy look to avoid being the center of attention because she is so smart. She is only a first year and can probably out perform all of you on theory. The only thing holding her back is age and her magical core hasn't matured yet. You should get to know her as a person as I am sure you will see is a valuable asset for your house. I am officially placing her under the protection of House Potter. I don't want to find out you have ignored this lesson or the consequences will be dire for the persons responsible. That is all I have to say. You may take over now Professor."

Luna runs up with tears in her eyes and gives the Potters a hug saying thank you over and over.

"It's alright Luna," Harry whispers, "I think they learned their lesson. I know what it is like to lose my mother. I remember every detail of her death all those years ago."

As soon as the Potters leave Professor Flitwick appears and says," I'm really ashamed of my house. You are all supposed to be intelligent. Intelligent people know there is nothing to be gained by bullying someone. One hundred fifty points will be deducted from this house and no trips to Hogsmead are allowed. You will have to work really hard to not come out on the bottom of the house point list at the end of the year."

With that he left back to his office to do the paperwork for their punishment.

Hermione takes Harry's hand and leads him to the nearest broom closet where she proceeds to snog him thoroughly. "That was a wonderful thing you did back there. That is one of the things I love about you the most. You never raised your voice once and you turned the problem into a lesson for everyone to learn. You will make a great teacher someday."

"Oh, I was plenty upset at them but there would be no point in losing my temper. You can't teach anyone a lesson by yelling at them," Harry says and she proceeds to snog him some more.

As they are walking down the hall back to their dorm one of the paintings informs the couple that the Headmaster wants to see them. They acknowledge the painting and divert their path to the Headmaster's office where they are admitted by the gargoyle.

"Thank you Lester," Harry says to the gargoyle.

"You're welcome sire," It responds in a gravelly voice.

After going up the stairs and knocking they enter the Headmaster's office and take seats in front of his desk.

"You wanted to see us grandpa," Harry asks?

"Yes. First I want to commend you on the way you handled the students in Ravenclaw. Professor Flitwick fined them one hundred fifty points and took away their Hogsmead privileges. I think they have learned a valuable lesson this day thanks to you. You two always give me reason to be proud of my grandchildren. Now, for the real reason I called for you. There has been another incident. Collin Creevey was found petrified on the second floor with his camera up to his face like he was taking pictures. The film was ruined so there is no evidence of what caused it." He says," None of the paintings noticed anything so it must have appeared very briefly and then disappeared again."

"Okay grandpa, we will investigate and see if we can find any evidence. This wasn't near Myrtles bathroom was it," Hermione asks?

"Why yes it was," He responds," Why did you ask that question?"

"Just a theory I am working on," Hermione replies," I'll let you know if anything comes of it."

"By the way," Harry says," We ran into Firenze while we were on patrol in the forest earlier. He is on his way here to offer classes on the centaur way of life to all whom he deems worthy and should be here soon."

"That's great news Harry. The centaurs can teach us a lot." Albus answers enthusiastically.

"One other thing," Albus says," I have authorized a dueling club at Professor Lockhart's request. It will start this Saturday evening after dinner."

When he sees their expressions he adds," Don't worry, Professor Snape will be there to help."

"That's a relief," Harry says with Hermione agreeing," I haven't seen Professor Lockhart get a spell correct yet. If it wasn't for the contract I would have fired him on the first day."

"So far he has been harmless and with your backup lessons we haven't lost anything," Albus says.

"Except for the large amount of gold lost having to buy his worthless books. They make for good fiction but nothing practical can be gained from them." Hermione says.

"There is that and if anyone complains, I'm sure we can arrange a refund if needed," Albus says.

"Let's go have a look at the second floor again," Harry says to Hermione," good evening, grandpa, after we're done we are going to bed."

"Good night you two and good luck on your investigation." Albus responds.

The two leave the Headmaster's office and head down to the second floor where they find the floor flooded again and Mr. Filch using the squeegee.

"This device is amazing. Beats a mop any day," he says.

Hermione waves her hand again and the water disappears leaving a clean floor behind.

"We came down to investigate a student getting himself petrified and was told it happened around here," Harry says.

"It happened just over here," Mr. Filch says pointing toward the door to Myrtles bathroom. She said there was a brief hissing noise and flash then Mr. Creevey was petrified. She didn't see what made the noise. The flash was from his camera as he tried to take a picture of it. I don't suppose the film came out did it?"

"No the film was ruined. Thank you, Mr. Filch. You may retire for the evening." Hermione says.

"Thank you Ma'am, good evening." He says and returns to his quarters.

"You mentioned a theory earlier Hermione," Harry says.

"Yea and Mr. Filch added credence to what I am working on," she says," I think we are facing some kind of snake but I have no idea what kind of snake can do this."

After speaking to Myrtle to confirm Mr. Filches accounting they retire to their quarters for the evening.

The next day is Saturday so after an announcement by the Headmaster everyone is looking forward to the dueling club meeting after dinner.

At seven thirty that evening everyone is gathered in the Great Hall where a dueling platform has been set up. Professor Snape is standing at one end waiting when Professor Lockhart, being the showman that he is, jumps up on the platform in his favorite Lilac robes and starts pacing back and forth regally with his hands clutching his wide lapels.

"Can everyone see me?" he asks with a large smile and after a pause for dramatics asks," Can everyone hear me?"

The girls in the crowd of students just swoon and sigh with one or two of them fainting outright. The boys just roll their eyes at the theatrics, not understanding what the girls see in the ponce.

"I swear I can see his teeth sparkling," Harry comments," didn't know there was a spell for that. May be the only one he can get right."

Hermione giggles, grabs his arm and snuggles up to him.

Lockhart continues," Good, my assistant, Professor Snape is here to help me show everyone how to defend yourselves from an attack by another person. On the count of three Professor?"

They walk ten paces away from each other, turn around and bow. Before Lockhart could get his wand up into dueling position, Professor Snape pulls his wand, points, and yells Expelliarmus. There is a flash of light from Professor Snapes wand which impacts Professor Lockhart in the chest, throwing him back ten feet further down the platform while his wand sails the other way and lands neatly in Professor Snapes hand.

Every male in the room including Hermione is cheering the Professor loudly. He smiles at the crowd and bows, while the girls are disappointed in their hero.

Lockhart jumps back up with his signature smile on his face and says as Professor Snape returns his wand," It was pretty obvious what you were going to do there professor and I could have stopped you if I had wanted, but I wanted the students to see what the spell looked like. Let's try a couple of students shall we?"

All of the males along with Hermione just roll their eyes at Lockhart as it is an obvious cover up for his inability to do anything right.

"Very well," Professor Snape says in response to the ponce," I will pick a couple of second years from my house. Knott and Weasley. Duel to disarm only."

The two boys climb up on the platform and take their ten paces and bow to each other. Knott points his wand and says,"Expelliarmus" and a flash of light heads towards Weasley where he yells," Protego" causing a shield to appear reflecting the spell back at Knott. Knott, upset that his spell is reflected back at him, gets back up and points his wand at Weasley again and yells" Serpensortia." A large snake is shot from his wand and lands on the platform in front of Justin Finch-Fletchley. Ron just moves back out of the way.

"Don't move Justin," Hermione says moving over to where he is standing," he won't hurt you if you stay still."

Justin stands very still but is very frightened of the snake, which is hissing and swaying back and forth in front of him.

Just then, Bumbling Buffoon Professor Lockhart decides get into the act. "I'll save you."

He fires a spell at the snake causing it to fly up in the air about ten feet, causing to land very hard back on the platform which agitates the snake even more it and starts to rear back to strike the nearest target. It's just about to attack Justin when Hermione pulls him back and moves to stand between him and the snake. He rubs his shoulder where she grabbed him, surprised at her strength. She then surprises everyone there when she hisses," **SSSTOP. Do no harm. I will take you to the foressst and free you."**

"**I will do as the speaker commands,"** the snake hisses back.

"**Climb around my shoulder and I will take you now,"** she hisses at the snake.

The snake climbs up her arm and wraps itself around her shoulder where she fades out to the forest and returns a few minutes later.

"Are you alright Justin," Hermione asks?

"I am now. I didn't know you were a parselmouth," he says backing away as he is now afraid of her.

Everyone else is looking at here, frightened of her because of her ability.

She jumps up on the platform and explains," There is nothing to be afraid of. I told some of you earlier that I was the Heir to Salazar Slytherin. Harry and I can both speak to snakes; we can understand and speak to a lot of animals. It's just one of our abilities and nothing to fear."

Everyone sighs in relief as they know the Potters are good people.

Professor Snape berates Knott for the dangerous spell and gives him detention. At the same time he praises Weasley for his protego spell and doing the right thing by getting out of the way of the snake. Ron stands a little taller, feeling good about himself.

"_So this is what Harry meant about feeling good about myself when I do the lesson right."_ Ron thinks.

After a few more duels everyone is dismissed saying there will be another meeting in a month. Everyone cheers at the news and returns to their dorms to do homework and hang out with their friends.

After an uneventful November, December approaches and soon it is time to go home for Christmas. Harry and Hermione decide to stay at the castle this year because of the danger and only go home Christmas Eve and day to be with their parents. They send a message via Hedwig that they would try to be home Christmas Eve.

A few days before Christmas the Potters are patrolling the halls when they notice that Myrtle has flooded the floor again, so they go into the bathroom to investigate, finding Myrtle crying in her stall and a book on the floor.

"What happened this time Myrtle," Harry asks with concern?

"Someone threw that book at me over there. It went right through my head. Fifty points, I bet they were thinking, if I get it through the head, twenty five points for the body."

"I'm sure that didn't even cross their minds at the time. We will take it away for you and please try not to flood the floor so much," Hermione asks?

Myrtle looks over at Harry and says while batting her eyelashes," You can come visit me in my toilet anytime Harry."

Hermione rolls her eyes and grabs Harry, dragging him out of there.

"She can be a bit forward at times," Hermione says.

"I uh, noticed." Harry says," Thanks for the rescue."

"Your welcome, she says," Let's check out the book when we get back to our room. This may be the artifact we were looking for."

They hurry to their room and when they get there Harry sets the book on their desk and opens it. All the pages are blank. Harry takes a chance and gets a quill and some ink. He opens the book to the first page and with Hermione looking over his shoulder writes" I am Harry Potter."

"Hello Harry Potter," the book writes back," my name is Tom Riddle."

"Do you know who opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry writes back.

"No, but I can show you who opened it fifty years ago." The book starts flipping pages to the center and starts to glow. With a flash of light Harry is pulled into the book where he is shown a memory of a young Hagrid and Aragog, with a young Tom Riddle accusing him of causing the death of a student. At the end of the memory the spider runs off down the hall.

When Harry comes out of the memory he looks Hermione in the eyes and shares the memory with her. The Potters decide that since they have the artifact now it will be okay to go home for Christmas for a few days before they talk to Hagrid, allowing him to enjoy his holiday as well.


	6. Terrorists, Justin & Nick, Valentines

**Chapter 21: Dealing with Terrorists, Justin and Nick, Dwarves and Valentine's Day**

After a short but fun Christmas the pair returns to Hogwarts and lessons, forgetting about the diary since its magic doesn't affect them, thinking it is safe in Hermione's bag. During the first study lesson after school restarts, Ginny shows up and asks to join while hoping she is done with that book for good. As they are studying she notices the top of the book sticking out of Hermione's bag and the compulsion charm kicks in causing her to silently summon the book again. She continues studying like nothing happened and when the session is over the group goes to dinner and then back to their common rooms to finish their homework. When Hermione empties her bag out she notices the book missing.

"Harry," She says, "The diary is missing."

"You think someone from our group has it," he asks?

"Possibly," she says, "If the book has a compulsion charm geared toward a specific person they might not have had any choice but to get it back. We will just have to keep our eyes open."

That weekend they decide to go flying again and after dressing warmly and disillusioning, they take off for their patrol. As they fly over the spider colony they can see the spiders are agitated over something but can't determine what, so they continue on with their patrol. As they round the far side of Hogsmead they hear a spitting and sputtering noise and decide to investigate. The couple spots what looks like a small plane in trouble.

"Isn't this a no fly zone," Harry asks Hermione?

"I believe so Harry, electronics don't work this close to the school. Let's change into our Pantheras personas and escort them away from here." She says.

They morph into Hunter and Huntress and approach the plane. When they arrive at the planes position, they see the agents that guard their home trying to fly troubled plane. The Hunters re-illusion themselves and fly under a wing strut on either side to lift the plane higher away from the mountain. The agents notice the sudden lift and are relieved when they see the Pantheras. As soon as they are far enough away the engine catches properly and they can now fly on their own. Hunter looks over at the pilot and scans his mind wondering if something happened to their parents when he finds they are needed for a hostage situation in the underground.

"_Land at the nearest airport and brief us,"_ Hunter sends to the pilot. The pilot nods and banks the plane toward a small landing strip a short ways away.

After the plane lands safely Hunter and Huntress alight next to the plane where Agent Hamilton explains that some terrorist have a bomb planted on the bottom of one of the underground trains and is threatening to explode it if some of his fellows are not released from jail. The train has to maintain a speed above 100kph or the trigger mechanism in the bomb will set it off.

"Picture in your mind where this is happening while looking into my eyes, and I will get the location from you." Hunter commands.

The agent nods and complies.

"Okay, got it," Hunter says," You should know that electronics will not work around these mountains. You were lucky we were patrolling the area and spotted you or you might not have made it. Let me see your watch."

The agent hands his watch over where Hunter covers it with his hand which glows for a few seconds and hands it back.

"I added a new hidden face to your watch which will allow you to contact us in emergencies. Push this button here and call out 'The Hunters'," he instructs says.

The agent complies and the face of his watch turns into a mirror with Hunter looking back at him. "This is a technology that I will allow your department to have. It makes communication a lot easier between agents and will give you a way to contact us. If the watch gets separated from the agent it was assigned to it will quit working, allowing your department some security from theft. Here is the spech. sheet. The mirror uses runes which are etched onto the back to work so pay attention to those. They pick up on the ambient magic in the air so be sure your technicians pay close attention to all the details."

The agent says" Thank you Mr. Hunter, I will pass this on to my boss."

"You're welcome. We will be leaving you now to see if we can save a train." Hunter says.

Hunter looks Huntress in the eye to plant the memory, she nods and they phase out to the underground location in London.

The Pantheras phase back in again to what looks like organized chaos. They are immediately spotted by head of the anti-terrorist section of the police department who walks over to them. The crowd of onlookers and reporters also notice and look on in awe at the aliens.

"You two are the Hunter's," he asks?

"Yes, agent Hamilton managed to find us. I gave him the means to speed up communication in the future. Please brief us on what is happening." Hunter commands.

"The train is the number twenty three. We have it routed in a continuous loop around the city to keep it moving. The terrorist is holed up inside the station across the tracks and has hostages. The train should come through again in a few minutes. Those poor people have been riding it for hours." He reports.

"Thank you, Captain. We will go after the train first." Harry says.

A minute later the train flies by the station at 120 kph and is soon gone again. Hunter looks at Huntress, nods and the pair looks like a blur to the watchers as they take off after it faster that the eye can follow.

One of the passengers in the last carriage looks out the back window and spots something following the train.

"Look," he shouts out to his fellows, pointing out the window," What's that?"

Someone else looks out the window and prays out loud," Please lord; let that be the aliens from the TV news."

That gets the carriage passenger's attention and everyone crowds around the window for a better look. As the object gets closer it resolves into a man and a woman with their arms and hands to their sides. The passengers watch the couple swing their arms out to the front and fly under the train disappearing from view. They start to have hope that what started out for them to be a routine ride to work and had turned into what many thought would be a one way ride to their graves is now going to end with their lives being saved. Word quickly spreads throughout the train.

"_It going to be a tight squeeze, but I think we will fit okay. Keep your eyes open," _Hunter thinks to Huntress while approaching the train.

"_Right,"_ she thinks back.

They slowly fly along under the train with inches to spare where they spot the bomb on the lead carriage. Hunter looks it over and thinks to Huntress_," I'm going to banish the bomb to high above London where it should detonate safely."_

He waves his hand at the bomb, causing it to disappear and reappear high above the city where it explodes safely. The Hunters then phase onto the train in the drivers compartment where word has already reached from the back passengers that they were there.

"It is safe to stop the train now. Please proceed to the station where the police are set up. The terrorist will have been arrested by the time you get there." Hunter instructs.

"Very good sir," the driver says professionally as he had been trained to stay calm in emergencies," Thank you very much. I will make the announcement."

Some of the passengers in the front carriage notice the Hunters through the driver window with hope in their eyes. They watch as the Hunters phase out.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the driver comes on the intercom," The crisis is over. The bomb has been removed by the Hunters and I was assured the terrorist will be captured by the time we return to the station.

The whole train starts cheering and talking excitedly amongst themselves.

Hunter and Huntress phase back in behind the station house where the terrorist is holed up. Using their special vision the Hunters find where the the terrorist is crouching with a gun pointed at the hostages. They phase in on either side of him, where after quickly disarming him, they take an arm each and phase right out again, reappearing next to the captain where they hand him and his weapon over. They then phase back to free the hostages from their bindings and bring them across to the paramedics to be treated for dehydration and lack of food. About that time the train pulls into the station and comes to a stop where the passengers are examined and released to go about their day.

"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Hunter," The captain says with a smile," without you two the situation could have been a lot worse."

"No problem," Hunter replies for the couple, "Glad we were available to help. We have to return to our patrol now. Have a good afternoon, gentlemen."

The Hunters phase back to their patrol route and change back into Harry and Hermione.

"That was exhilarating, "Hermione says excitedly," That was the most serious situation we have been in yet. I'm glad we were able to handle it."

"Me too, Hermione. I hope we can prevent more potential disasters like this from happening in the future. Let's get back to the school.

They fly off back towards Hogwarts to continue their weekend doing homework and patrolling the halls of the school.

Back in London while this is going on, the Grangers are glued to their television sets like everyone else and when they see the Hunters appear out of thin air in the station they know that everything is going to be okay. They watch as the cameras catch them flying through the underground as the couple catches up to the train. The television screen shows the Hunters capture the terrorist and free the hostages. It also shows the train coming to a safe stop at the station. The parents are so proud of their children that Mrs. Granger decides to bake a batch of the kids favorite biscuits to send as a reward.

A couple of weeks later Justin Finch-Flechley is talking to Nearly Headless Nick when something fuzzy appears behind the ghost and he freezes up, turning into stone. Nick turns around and also freezes up with smoke coming from his neck where his cut is. The object disappears back the way it came and Myrtle again splashes water from her toilet, flooding the floor in her haste to hide.

This time they are discovered by Harry and Hermione while on one of their patrols where harry orders the paintings to get the Headmaster down there as soon as possible.

"Look Harry," Hermione says," Even Nick is affected by whatever is doing this. It seems like every petrification is taking place by indirect viewing of the beast. The cat saw a reflection in the water, Collin through his camera and Justin through Nick. I wonder what will be next. If we can't figure this out soon we will have to close the school. Luckily everyone affected so far can be cured. I need to do more research on this and we need to talk to Hagrid as soon as we can. He might know something."

The Headmaster comes running as quickly as he can and takes control by moving Justin and Nick to the hospital wing.

"We will have to make an announcement at dinner," Albus says to Harry and Hermione.

"I agree Headmaster, The children will have to be restricted to their dorms and only be escorted by a teacher to classes. Hermione and I will help with escort duties. I know this will be a lot of extra work for everyone but they will be compensated." Harry states.

The announcement is made at dinner that evening and a new routine starts for the children.

A few weeks pass uneventfully and on Valentine's day Lockhart shows up at breakfast wearing bright pink robes with a group of strange creatures wearing cupid outfits while passing out valentines.

"I hired these dwarves to dress up as cupid and to help pass out valentines to you students. For a price, which can be negotiated by yourselves, they will sing your valentine to that special person in your life. Have fun." He says.

With that the dwarves disperse with most of the guys making themselves scarce but still staying together for safety. Harry and Hermione are walking down the hall hand in hand when one of the dwarves walks up to Harry.

"I'm sorry sire, I've been paid to sing this valentine to you. I didn't realize it was you till I saw you." He says apologizing.

"It's okay sir dwarf. You were paid fair and square. I will listen." Harry replies.

The dwarf nods in gratitude and sings:

"_His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,  
>His hair is as dark as a blackboard.<br>I wish he was mine, he's really divine,  
>The hero who conquered the Dark Lord." <em>

(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling)

"The dark lord is not conquered just yet, but I appreciate the effort it must have taken to get the lines down. Thank you sir dwarf and let the other person know that I appreciate her effort and hope we can be good friends." Harry responds.

"Thank you sire," the dwarf answers with a bow and walks off.

"That was probably from Ginny, you know," Hermione says.

"I know, that's why I let the dwarf go ahead with it. Ron told me she has had a crush on me since she was read all those made up stories about me by her mother when she was little. She will grow out of it as she ages and starts to understand about true love." Harry responds.


	7. Hagrid, Fudge and Penelope

**Chapter 22: Hagrid, Fudge and Penelope**

After the holiday Harry and Hermione walk down to Hagrid's hut to talk to him.

"Hi Hagrid," Harry says after he answers the door with a crossbow in his hand," What's the crossbow for?"

"You never know what's out ther now do ya," He answers, paranoid about what is going on like everyone else," what are you two doing out here?"

"We came to see if you knew what happened with the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago. We know you were expelled for the incident but we also know you are innocent. We saw the spider in a memory and know spiders can't petrify people." Harry says.

"That was Aragog, found him in a forest in South America when I was on a trip with me dad," he explains, "I thought he would make a good pet. Didn't know he would get so big. He escaped into the forest when Tom accused me of killing that girl. I got expelled and my wand snapped. Dumbledore was kind enough to hire me on as game keeper here. Great man Dumbledore. Wait, someone's coming."

He looks out the window. "It's Fudge and Dumbledore. Hide yer selves quick." Hagrid says.

Harry and Hermione disillusion themselves and stand over in a corner to see what will happen next.

The Headmaster knocks on Hagrids door and enters after being invited.

"I'm sorry about this Hagrid," Minister Fudge says," Your record speaks against you and I have to be seen as doing something so there is a warrant for your arrest."

"I have complete confidence in Hagrid," the Headmaster says by way of support.

"I know, bad business this, I will put him in a holding at cell the ministry out of sight of the public. This will at least keep the masses calm. Come Hagrid."

Hagrid calles out, apparently to thin air," If you want answers just follow the spiders," oh, and someone needs to feed Fang as well."

The Minister looks around, and not seeing anyone, shrugs his shoulders and leads Hagrid away.

Harry and Hermione look over at the window and notice a row of spiders marching single file up the wall and out a whole in the window.

"Spiders don't act like that," Hermione says," I guess this Aragog is at the colony we saw. Let's follow and see if we can find him."

They walk out the door and follow the row of spiders into the woods. It gets darker and darker the further in they go. With their special vision they don't need a lantern to see so they continue on. As they get further into the woods the spider count starts going up more and they get larger as well. Finally the couple is grabbed one each to a large spider and carried into the forest till they come to a cave and are set down in front of it, surrounded by thousands of spiders of various sizes, all anticipating a meal. A very large spider walks out of the cave and asks," Who has entered my domain?"

"My name is Harry Potter and this is my wife. We are friends of Hagrid. He has been arrested and accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets, just like fifty years ago." Harry says.

"That's a lie, Hagrid never opened the Chamber. He brought me here and then brought me a wife so I could start my own colony. He never killed no one." Aragog says fiercly.

"Do you know what is petrifying the students," Hermione asks?

"We do not speak of it. It is the mortal enemy of the spider and we stay out of its path when it is about." He responds.

"Very well," Harry said, "thank you for the information. We will return to the castle and use your information to fight the beast."

The spiders all start converging on Harry and Hermione ready to pounce.

"I think not, friend of Hagrid" Aragog says," we allow Hagrid in here because he brought me a mate. We can't allow fresh meat to leave. Not after it has walked so willingly into our lair."

The spiders all start to converge on their position and with a wave of their hands the Potters freeze every one of them in place. Aragog is surprised at the power shown by the pair.

"Who are you that you can do this to us," Aragog asks in fear?

"We are the Elders of the Universe," Harry and Hermione recite in unison," And you are not native to this land. We cannot allow you to stay here. Picture in your mind your home and we will send you and your colony there."

Aragog pictures a deep rich forest in the Amazon basin of South America and says," Thank you Elders, It is too cold here and not enough food to feed my children, fare well."

With a wave of their hands and a flash of light the colony disappears back to their native land. The whole scene is witnessed by centaurs whose leader trots up to the pair and stamping his front hooves in approval, nods his head and runs off with the rest of his herd.

"Well, we got another clue at least and made the forest a little safer," Harry says.

Hermione snuggles up to him and says," Let's get back to the castle and check on the students. They phase back to the castle where they go to their dorm for the evening.

A few weeks later as a head count is done at curfew Professor Flitwick discovers Penelope Clearwater is not in her dorm. When he asks one of her friends he is told she had gone to the library and that she thought she had returned already.

Hermione is doing the rounds with Flitwick this time and says to him," better let me go professor. I should be impervious to the beast if I run across it. I just hope Penelope hasn't run in to it."

Hermione makes her way to the library where she finds Penelope studying for her owls along with the problem with the school.

"You shouldn't be here Penelope," Hermione says, "its past curfew."

She looks up at hearing Hermione's voice and answers, "I was trying to figure out what was petrifying students and I seem to be missing a vital clue. Everyone that was petrified saw the creature though a reflection or a lens of some kind but not directly."

"I can tell you it is a large snake of some kind and we just learned today it is the mortal enemy of spiders." Hermione says with hope.

"Of course, that's it. The beast is a basilisk. The Basilisk is the king of snakes and spiders flee before it. It can kill you with one look from its eyes." She says.

Hermione thought, _"Myrtle. I bet that's how she died. All the incidents seem to happen near her bathroom."_

"We better get you back to your dorm," Hermione says," stay behind me, and if I say so close your eyes."

"Okay Hermione," she agrees.

Unfortunately they have to walk past the second floor bathroom to get to her dorm and Hermione notices the floor is flooded again. She hears a scream and looks back and Penelope is petrified on the floor with a big snake rearing up over her about to bite her.

Hermione says," Oh, no you don't." And two pencil lead thin beams of red light come from Hermione's eyes and score a long trace down the snakes back. The snake screeches in pain and slithers back into Myrtles bathroom and out of site. Hermione runs into the bathroom just in time to see the sink close back over a whole in the floor. She goes back out to check on Penelope, finding she is definitely petrified but still alive.

"_Thank goodness,"_ she thinks.

She then looks up at the wall and sees a new message: **HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER**. (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling)

She realizes someone is down there with the snake.

"_Harry," _she sends, _"Come to Myrtles bathroom right away. I need you."_

Harry appears right next to her along with the rest of the staff. The headmaster inspects Penelope and has her removed to the hospital wing and looks over at Hermione.

"It was a Basilisk sir. It almost ate Penelope but I drove it off," she says crying because she had failed to protect one of the students. Harry walks over to her and hugs her saying it isn't her fault the beast got the drop on her. At least Penelope is still alive and we now know where it went. She sniffs and straightens up glad she has Harry to support her.

Professor Lockhart speaks up now that the danger is gone," I could have taken care of this easily had I been here."

Professor Snape looks over at him and says," You are our resident defense professor. Now is your time to shine by proving you did all those things in your books. You can take care of this problem for us."

"Very well, I will," He says," I'll go to my office; to get ready."

"_We better follow him,"_ Harry thinks to Hermione.

They follow him as he hurries to his office and when they get there find him packing his things to leave.

"Going somewhere professor," Harry asks.

He looks up and says," My contract doesn't say anything about fighting a basilisk."

"You didn't really do any of those things in your books, did you?" Harry states flatly.

"Books can be faked, however I am particularly good at memory charms," he says while drawing his wand.

"Obliviate," he yells out with his wand pointing at Harry. A shield appears instantly in front of Harry reflecting the spell back at Lockhart who is knocked back into the wall where he hits his head.

"Did you put up a shield Harry," Hermione asks?

"Not intentionally," He answers just as puzzled as she is.

"Let's ask grandpa about it later," she says checking on Lockhart.

While she is checking him and removing his wand Lockhart wakes up and shakes his head groggily.

He looks up at the couple and asks," Who am I?"

"Your name is Gilderoy Lockhart and you have been stealing memories and gold from our subjects. By order of Harold Pendragon, King of all Britania, you will be committed to St. Mungos where you can no longer harm anyone else." Harry states.

Professor Dumbledore who is disillusioned and standing in the doorway, witnesses the whole scene and after reappearing, confirms," your order will be carried out sire. I will see to it myself. The shield was from me."

Harry nods to his grandfather and leaves the room disgusted with the so-called professor. They lock the door to keep him in so he doesn't hurt himself.


	8. End Game and Consequences

**Chapter 23: End Game and Consequences**

While returning from the former professor's office Hermione informs Harry of their new ability. After arriving he takes charge.

"We will go to the Chamber and take care of the snake ourselves now that we know where it is."Harry states in a no nonsense voice.

He is fed up with the whole situation and the fact that it put Hermione in the position of not being able to protect Penelope.

"Let's go take care of this snake and then we are going to take care of Malfoy. I'm going bury him so deep in Azkaban no one will even know he is there." Harry says sternly.

The Potter's enter Myrtle's bathroom and both stare at the sinks in the center. Four beams of red light, two from each of them, emit from the pupils of their eyes. The beams burn around the base of the sinks and when a complete circumference is made, Hermione walks up to it and lifts the whole assembly to the side.

Harry looks back at Professors Snape and Dumbledore and says," Keep everyone out of here in case that snake gets by us."

"Yes sir," they say together while herding everyone out into the hall.

"Now that is true power," Professor Snape says in awe of the pair.

Professor Dumbledore turns to Professor McGonagall and says," You will find Professor Lockhart in his office without his memory due a backfired spell. By order of the King, he is to be committed to St. Mungos. Call in the aurors to take him away.

Harry and Hermione hover above the floor and before they go below he says to her," there is no good solution to this one. We will have to put the beast down. If it was human we could do something else. Are you ready for this?"

She looks at him with Love and determination in her eyes for the way her man has taken charge," Let's do this love. This has gone way too far to let it go any farther."

They dive down into the tunnel and come out the other end where they spot a large snake skin. Following the tunnel further they come across another door and settle in front of it. Looking at the hinges and snakes locking the door in place they decide on brute force, the red beams of light emit again out of their eyes working around the outside of the door until the circle is complete. The door falls off with a loud clang startling the wraith within. The pair float slowly into a room with snake statues down either side and a large statue at the end. Also near the end on the floor lay little Ginny Weasley. The pair land near her and bend to check her pulse. It is weak but still beating.

"She won't survive you know," a voice says from their right coming from the shadows," As she grows weaker I grow stronger." He picks up Harry's wand, which he had dropped on purpose as a distraction for the wraith.

"I have been leaching her life force for a whole year but my real target has been you Harry Potter." Harry just laughs and says," You picked the wrong target this time Tom. We actually have been looking for you all year. We finally found you and now we are going to end this."

Tom looks up at them and sneers," Do you know who I am?"

"You are Tom Marvolo Riddle self-styled Lord Voldemort. You are nothing but a terrorist and a thug, we plan on arresting you and putting you in stasis forever when we find the rest of you." Harry replies, "You will also find that wand I allowed you to have has no core. It was burned out the day I bought it."

He looks at it and after trying a spell throws it on the ground," That means you are wandless as well."

"That's right," Harry says.

"Powerless then," says Tom Smugly.

"Not exactly," Harry replies.

"Let's see what you can do without a wand," He turns to the statue and says in parcel tongue, **"Ssspeak to me, oh Ssslytherin, greatessst of the Hogwartsss Four!"** (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling)

The mouth of the statue opens releasing the basilisk, which comes out through a large hole looking right at Harry and Hermione having no effect on them.

**"We're sssorry,"** Harry and Hermione say in Parcel tongue and four beams of red light come out of their eyes and slice right through the neck of the beast cutting its head off.

They turn to Tom who is looking at them incredulously and asks," What are you."

Harry takes Hermione's hand and they say together," We are the Elders of the Universe. You have no chance against us Tom."

They raise their hands which start glowing brightly and chant: _**"Tom Marvolo Riddle, We bind your soul to this book until such time as we release you. You have no more power and never will."**_

The wraith starts screaming as he is drawn back into the diary like a small tornado. Color returns slowly to Ginny's face and she wakes up to see the glowing couple standing there and the diary burnt and dry. She looks over at the Basilisk and breaks down crying saying over and over," I didn't know, he made me do it,"

Hermione runs over to her and hugs the crying girl and says," We know Ginny, no one died. The Mandrake drought is almost ready and everyone will be restored."

She breathes a sigh of relief while Harry binds the diary in a permanent stasis field that will keep this part of Tom riddles soul bound forever.

Harry reaches his hand down and helps Ginny up and asks," want to go for a flight up a tunnel?"

"I'd love to Lord Potter," she says bashfully.

"It's just Harry to our friends," he admonishes gently.

"And I'm his wife Hermione," Hermione says, "Let's get out of here."

They each grab one of Ginny's arms and gently lift her up and begin the journey back up the tunnel to the Myrtle's bathroom. They rise up out of the hole in the ground and settle on the floor of the bathroom.

"That was amazing and fun you guys, Thank you." Ginny says.

Harry opens the door and gives the all clear. He beckons Professor Snape over and speaks quietly," There is a sixty three foot basilisk in the chamber without its head. I want you to render it and sell the parts off. You can keep ten percent for your potions lab but I want proceeds from the rest to be divided up amongst the victims including Myrtle's family if she has any surviving relatives."

"Yes sir. It will be done." He answers.

Harry looks at Hermione and says," Let's go collect some vermin.

The pair morph into the Pantheras and take off flying through the halls of the school until they reach the front doors where the go supersonic for the trip to Malfoy Manor. When they get there they hardly slow down as they blow though the wards and the front wall of the building collapses as they go through that as well. Mr. Malfoy tries to disapparate away and finds himself frozen in place.

The Pantheras land in front of him where they Morph back into a very angry Harry and Hermione Pendragon with fire in their eyes.

"You are lucky no one was killed in your little quest for revenge. The diary is in permanent stasis and the basilisk is dead." Harry says. They then change once more causing Lucius Malfoy's eyes to widen in fear.

"I Harold Pendragon, King of all Britania sentence you to life in Azkaban for the attempted murder of several children at Hogwarts, formerly known as Camelot." They change back to their Panthers personnas and with the official order of the king they phase straight to the lowest level of Azkaban Prison where they lock him in a cell and then seal the door with only a slot for food. They phase up to the wardens office where they hand the order over to him and say," There is a special prisoner in cell one. He tried to murder the children of Hogwarts by using a charmed diary and a Basilisk. He is to be fed but have no contact with the outside world for the rest of his life. His door is sealed and no amount of magic will open it again. Have a good day sir." They phase out, impressing the warden as it is normally impossible to get through the wards on the island. The pair return To Malfoy manor and systematically destroy the house while removing the rubble. When they are done the grounds are clean and bare. The goblins at Gringotts are ordered by the King and Queen to sell off all of Malfoy's assets and close down his vault with proceeds to go to his victims. The Malfoy name no longer exists.

After their work is done, the couple flies at a leisurely pace back to Hogwarts where the staff is awaiting word on what to do next. The Hunter's land on the front lawn and morph back into Harry and Hermione and declare," The crisis is over. The victims will be compensated and life can return to normal. We have end of year exams to study for; let's do our jobs ladies and gentlemen. We have a school to run. The staff members cheer, then start discussing lesson plans and preparing for finals.

"We need to find Draco," Harry says to Hermione.

They walk down to the dungeons and approach the door to Slytherin House where the door opens and says in parcel tongue," **Welcome to Ssslytherin House my lady."**

"**Thank you kind sssir,"** she says back in the same tongue.

The students in the common room could hear the hissing noises and are surprised to see the Potters walk in.

"The crisis is over you may leave your common room at your head of House' discretion. We need to see Draco Black." Harry announces.

Someone runs to get him and he comes down the stairs from his room and walks up to Harry and Hermione.

"Hi Harry and Hermione," he says," What's up?"

"We just want to let you know that your ex-father has been sent Azkaban for life and will never be heard from again. All of his assets have been seized and his vault has been closed down. The manor house has been leveled and the property is one large open field now. This was done as a message to any other death eater that wants to try what your ex-father did. The Malfoy name no longer exists here in Britain. Please pass the word on to your mother." Harry informs Draco.

The others in the room overhear and decide to write their parents as well to let them know just how serious the Potter's are.

A few weeks later, with everyone restored back to health and a few hefty study sessions the final exams are given. Harry, Hermione and Luna are the only ones in school to ace their exams but everyone did fairly well. The quality of education at Hogwarts is slowly climbing while the legend of Harry and Hermione Potter soars by leaps and bounds.

At the leaving feast Professor Dumbledore steps to the podium and raises himself a few inches while tapping the side of his glass to get every ones attention.

"Another year has come and gone and our brains are sufficiently filled to get us through the summer. The House points are thus: Ravenclaw with 386 points, with the help of the only first year to ace her exams, Luna Lovegood, a considerable comeback from the loss earlier in the year. Next is Gryffindor with 423 points, a big improvement from last year. Second place is Slytherin with 467 points and once again in the lead with the other two students who aced their exams, Harry and Hermione Potter, Hufflepuff house with 478 points. Hufflepuff wins the house cup."

Everyone cheers for Hufflepuff, but isn't surprised after last year.

The students quiet down when they notice the Headmaster isn't quite finished.

"Also, would the following students come to the front: Harry Potter, Hermione Potter, Penelope Clearwater, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Collin Creevey, and Ginevra Weasley."

Ginny looks around and Professor Dumbledore looks right at here and says," Yes, you young lady,"

She walks up to the front to nervously stand with the others.

"These six students were all either victims of or fought the Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Hermione Potter have refused any monetary awards as they are the ones handing them out but the other four have vaults open in their names at Gringotts for their share of proceeds from the Basilisk after rendering for potion parts for how much Professor Snape?"

Professor Snape stands and consults the list in his hand," I was able to get twelve million Galleons for the remains, less fees and taxes, that leaves about two million Galleons apiece for each victim here with four going to Myrtles family as she is the only one who died," He says then sits back down.

Ginny fainted and Penelope had to sit down for a minute. Hermione waved her hand bringing Ginny around and when she stands back up they are all given their vault keys.

Dumbledore continues," Furthermore Harry Potter, Hermione Potter and Penelope Clearwater all get commendations for services to the school. I was told it was Penelope Clearwater who figured out it was a Basilisk that was the cause of the trouble, while Harry and Hermione took it out in combat. Well done students we're all proud of you, and your names will go done in the annals of Hogwarts forever."

The rest of the students stand and cheer loudly for the group throwing their hats in the air to celebrate the end of the school year. Once the cheering calms down everyone leaves to go to their dorms for the last sleep before the train ride in the morning.

Harry walks up to Professor Snape and says," Well done professor, There will be a sizable bonus in your voucher for this year."

"Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure," he says.

"We need to talk to Hagrid, "Harry says to Hermione.

"Ok, let's go now love, before the train leaves," Hermione says.

They walk down to Hagrid's hut and knock on the door. Hagrid opens the door with a big grin on his face and asks them to come in.

"Hi Hagrid," Harry says, We came down to welcome you back and to tell you we sent Aragog and his colony back to South America where they belong. It is too cold here for them and there is not enough food."

"That's a good thing you did Harry. All I could do was to feed them with whatever I could find." Hagrid replies," they were getting harder to control."

"Okay Hagrid, we just wanted to give you the news and welcome you home. We are going to join our friends now for the trip to London. Have a good summer," Harry says as they wave goodbye.

The study group all board the same carriage and ride to the station together. After boarding the train and getting a compartment they sit around discussing the scary year they had and hope it is the last time it gets this bad. After a pleasant ride home with no trouble from the Slytherin idiots, everyone parts on good terms and heads home for the summer.


End file.
